Expensive drugs on GP blacklist

Expensive drugs are being blacklisted by health trusts in an effort to save money, the GPs' newspaper Pulse has reported. It found that of 134 primary care organisations, half had lists of drugs that GPs are banned from prescribing, and 73 had added to the list in the past year or brought in additional restrictions on prescribing.

Banned treatments include medication approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence such as gliptins for diabetes and denosumab for osteoporosis. Other medication for Parkinson's and some contraceptive pills have also been banned, along with the weight-loss drug orlistat.