The first evidence has been emerging of the effects of the patent cliff, with NHS spending on pharmaceuticals falling from £8.83bn in 2010 to £8.81bn in 2011, according to figures from the NHS Information Centre. Although only a small fall, this must be set against general annual rises of 3-4% each year. And this is before the real effects of the patent cliff get underway. The patent cliff is the falling out of patent of many of the big blockbuster drugs between 2011 and 2016 without sufficient drugs to replace them. The 2011 figures do not take account of some of the biggest drugs that are just coming off patent and open to competition from much cheaper generics, such as Pfizer’s Lipitor, which cost the NHS more than £300m in 2011.
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