UK doctors wasting money on branded drugs -MPs

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - British primary care doctors are wasting hundreds of millions of pounds a year by prescribing heavily promoted and pricey branded medicines rather than cheaper generics, a parliamentary committee said on Thursday.
The critical report from the Committee of Public Accounts adds to the growing pressure on the pharmaceuticals industry across Europe, where healthcare payers are seeking to rein in runaway healthcare costs as tougher economic times loom.
The British government is already renegotiating an agreement with drugs firms over medicine pricing in an attempt to get better value for money.
"The NHS (National Health Service) spends each year at least 200 million pounds ($393 million) more than it should as a result of GPs (general practitioners) prescribing too high a proportion of higher cost, branded medicines," the committee's chairman Edward Leigh said.

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