Britain | The price is finally right

The National Health Service has a new drugs deal

Patients and pharma firms will be relieved. But it is not yet clear who benefits most

Pharmacists puts medications in drawers and shelves at the Monklands University Hospital.
Photograph: Getty Images

TWO DAYS, TWO deals for the National Health Service (NHS). On November 21st the NHS announced that it had awarded a contract worth up to £330m ($414m) to Palantir, a controversial American firm, to help it join up patient data in England and thereby, it hopes, to improve care for millions. This followed the announcement a day earlier of a new drugs deal, after months of wrangling with the British government, which funds the service, and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), representing drugmakers.

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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Drug dealing”

From the November 25th 2023 edition

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