Reasons for high cost of melatonin to the NHS

The request was partially successful.

Dear Department of Health,

According to various documents on NHS websites, the cost of melatonin to the NHS is around 25p per milligram. But in the USA, melatonin's retail price is about 1.6p per milligram ($9 for 120 tablets at 3 mg each on gnc.com, for example). I would like to know why the NHS is paying over the odds for this drug.

(I previously made this request to NICE, who advised me to ask the NHS Business Services Authority, who advised me to ask the Department of Health and NHS England.)

Yours faithfully,

Adam Funk

Department of Health and Social Care

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Department of Health and Social Care

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Dear Department of Health,

Thanks for your reply. You wrote that "[t]he price of medicines is controlled through competition in the market between several manufacturers"; could you list the names of the competing suppliers for melatonin in the UK?

Yours faithfully,

Adam Funk

Department of Health and Social Care

Thank you for contacting the Department of Health.
This is an acknowledgement - please do not reply to this email.
Where a reply is appropriate, we aim to send one within 18 working days,
or 20 working days if your query is a Freedom of Information request or
complaint.
If you have contacted the Department of Health about a current health or
social care campaign, please visit the [1]GOV.UK website, the UK
Government’s official information website, where a response may have been
published.

If your enquiry is about a medical matter, please contact NHS 111 or visit
[2]NHS Choices, or contact your GP surgery.

For general health information you may also find it helpful to refer to
[3]GOV.UK, which includes the Department of Health's [4]'What we
do' section.
Please note that the Department of Health does not process complaints
about the NHS or social services. If you wish to make a complaint about a
healthcare professional, an NHS organisation or a social care provider,
please visit the [5]'Complaints procedure' page on the GOV.UK website.
 
You can find out more about the Department’s commitments from our
[6]Personal Information Charter.

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

Visible links
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2. http://www.nhs.uk/
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
6. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

Department of Health and Social Care

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Our ref: DE00000856103 
 
Dear Mr Funk, 
  
Please see attached the Department of Health's response to your Freedom of
Information request. 

Yours sincerely,
 
Danny Lamond
Freedom of Information
Department of Health
 

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Dear Department of Health,

Thanks for the information.

Yours faithfully,

Adam Funk