Drug giants threaten NHS with legal action over cheaper drug that could save £84m a year

Using cheaper version of drug effective against blindness is preferable to cost-cutting measures such as rationing, say NHS commissioners

Two multinational drug companies are threatening legal action to prevent patients being offered a cheap version of an effective drug against blindness which could save the NHS millions of pounds.

Twelve NHS clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in the north-east of England say that saving money by buying a safe and effective - but 10 times cheaper - version of the licensed drug for wet macular degeneration is far preferable to cutting costs in other ways, for instance by rationing fertility treatment or cataract operations.