The commercial medicines directorate undertakes the commercial arrangements that influence the price of medicines to ensure patients have faster access to the most innovative new medicines and ensure we get the best value from the £18.9 billion the NHS spends on medicines.

Our mission is: to support patient access to the latest innovative and most clinically effective medicines and treatments and at the same time, securing maximum value for the NHS and taxpayers from its ever growing spend on medicines and other healthcare treatments.

What does the commercial medicines activity involve?

Our commercial medicines activity is focused on ensuring patients get the treatments that are clinically effective whilst maximising value for the taxpayer and the NHS. This can be through national contracts or negotiations with individual companies on medicines appraised by NICE.

Our Commercial Development team works collaboratively with industry and engages early with pharmaceutical companies to ensure patients get fast access to innovative or best value new medicines.

The directorate also works with the relevant commissioning functions of NHS England and NHS Improvement to prepare the healthcare service for the implementation of new medicines.

Our work also includes:

• The Commercial Medicines Unit
• The medicines value programme
• The Commercial Medicines Unit (CMU) which leads on medicines procured for hospitals nationally through CMU frameworks including homecare medicines. The CMU also manages the supply and shortages of medicines on CMU frameworks.
• The Commercial Operations team which includes the cancer drugs fund, patient access schemes and our collaborative work with NICE.

In the news

Read some of the news stories where we have negotiated a fair deal for patients and the NHS.

• Saving the NHS money on medicines spend
• Luxterna
• Adalimumab
• Symkevi and Orkambi
• Epidyolex
• Celiponase alfa
• Spinraza

Blog posts

• Access for All: Ensuring all patients in the UK have access to the best treatments for haemophilia A

Contact us

If you would like to know more about our commercial activity on medicines, please contact us at england.commercialmedicines@nhs.net.