Health secretary upsets pharma industry with recent remarks

Health secretary Matt Hancock has undermined the relationship between the government and the pharmaceutical industry by saying he would not “let big pharmaceutical companies hold the NHS to ransom,” during negotiations to replace the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme pricing agreement and discussions on the price of new drugs.
There have been difficult and prolonged negotiations between Vertex, the government and NHS England over the pricing and reimbursement for Orkambi, for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. Two years into negotiations, they are still at loggerheads over the price and future funding for other cystic fibrosis drugs in Vertex’ pipeline. Vertex has called NHS England’s rejection of their latest offer outrageous, and Matt Hancock’s reaction was: “I think that the offer they’ve got is incredibly generous, I think that they are attempting profiteering off the back of the NHS and they need instead to accept the deal and supply the drug right now.”
Conversely, there was an example of great collaboration between Novartis and NHS England recently, where it took just ten days from EMA approval to make the CAR-T treatment Kymriah available on the NHS for children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia