PFIZER AND DISTRIBUTION OF PHARMACEUTICALS

Early day motion 430, tabled 7 December 2006 by David Taylor (Labour). Signed by 59 members.

That this House shares the concerns expressed by pharmacists and dispensing clinicians about the potential impact on patient access to essential medicines of Pfizer's proposals for distributing its pharmaceutical products in the United Kingdom; believes that the new distribution arrangements represent an unacceptable risk by placing responsibility for distributing Pfizer's essential medicines to every pharmacy throughout the United Kingdom with just one company; notes that earlier this year Pfizer ran out of their own treatment for high blood pressure and the supply chain was only restored by access to stocks of the drug held within the existing network of distributors; recognises the bureaucratic burden these proposals would place on pharmacists at the expense of patient contact time; is concerned that the proposed arrangements might undermine NHS budgets and eradicate the choice and competition required to keep drug costs down and quality of service up within the NHS; and therefore calls upon the Government to ensure that Pfizer's anti-competitive, anti-community pharmacy, anti-patient and anti-NHS proposals are investigated by the appropriate agencies as a matter of urgency.

Signatures by party: Labour 34, Liberal Democrat 14, DUP 4, Conservative 2, Scottish National Party 2, Social Democratic and Labour Party 2, Plaid Cymru 1.