Additional savings targets for the top 10 medicines
Additional savings targets are set for 2018/19 when a trust did not achieve the baseline uptake of one of the top 10 medicines during 2017/18.
In 2017/18 the Hospital Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation programme (HoPMOp) developed a series of metrics to allow trusts to track cash-value savings delivered by either switching from an originator version of a drug to a biosimilar version, or switching from a branded version of a drug to a generic version.
It is assumed that these savings are recurrent and therefore any savings achieved by switching in 2017/18 will continue to be saved in 2018/19. Where uptake of the biosimilar or generic version was less than the baseline level, however, there's scope to make further savings. For 2018/19 these unrealised savings from 2017/18 will show as a new 'additional savings target'. If your trust has already achieved baseline uptake of a generic or biosimilar drug, your additional savings target could be £0.00.
How we calculate additional savings targets
Example calculation
Total volume of drug bought at originator price in 2016/17: 500 units
Total volume of drug bought at biosimilar price in 2016/17: 800 units
Total volume of drug bought at originator price in 2017/18: 300 units
Total volume of drug bought at biosimilar price in 2017/18: 1,000 units
Total unit price for originator: £1,000
Total units purchased in 2016/17: 1,300 units
Total spend on originator products in 2016/17: £50,000
Total units purchased in 2017/18: 1,300 units
Total spend on originator products in 2017/18: £30,000
Baseline biosimilar uptake level for 2017/18: 80%
In this example a trust increased their percentage of biosimilar uptake from 61.5% in 2016/17 to 76.9% in 2017/18 resulting in a cash value saving of £20,000. The baseline uptake level for this drug was, however, 80% meaning that a further 3.1% of uptake is still to be achieved for 2018/19. The total savings achieved in 2017/18 of £20,000 are expected to be repeated again along with an additional savings target of £4,000 which would take the total savings value to the benchmark of 80% uptake.
The two figures below set out the steps in calculating the additional savings target for both originator-biosimilar and branded-generic drugs:
Figure 1: Calculation of additional savings target for biosimilar uptake of 80%
Figure 2: Calculation of additional savings target for generic uptake of 70%
