It is not often that the NHS gets accused of being too good at negotiating down costs. But that seems to be gist of the case levelled against it regarding the cost of drugs. AstraZeneca has paused the expansion of a research facility in Cambridge and US pharmaceutical firm Merck has cancelled a plan to invest £1 billion in a research centre in London. In both cases the blame has been cast on the tight-fistedness of the NHS in not paying enough for drugs. If you don’t pay, goes the argument, then you won’t get investment in new drugs.

We have to accept that we are never going to get new drugs on the cheap

That is fair enough – up to a point. And yes, wouldn’t it be wonderful if the NHS was prepared to use the same savage negotiating skills it apparently uses when dealing with drugs compan

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