MORNINGSIDE HEALTHCARE LAUNCHES THREE NEW BRANDED GENERIC CONTRACEPTIVES
-Potential Opportunity for NHS England to save £17.5m per annum -
Morningside Healthcare Ltd. has expanded its portfolio of branded generic oral contraceptives, creating an opportunity for NHS England to save up to £17.5million per annum on prescribing costs in this therapy area[i].
This comes at a time of intense pressure on Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and general practitioners to reduce prescribing costs as part of the QIPP agenda.
Morningside Healthcare is launching a further three new products to its portfolio of branded generic oral contraceptives:
- Cimizt®
- Lizinna®
- Zelleta®
Morningside’s Levest® contraceptive product, launched in 2010, has retained the NHS (England) contract for hospitals in England.[ii]
If all prescriptions for the most commonly prescribed contraceptive brands were successfully converted to the equivalent Morningside brand containing the same active ingredients, a total of £17,547,755 per annum (47%) could be saved across NHS England.
Available now, these branded generic oral contraceptives provide an opportunity for CCGs to significantly reduce costs when Morningside Healthcare products are prescribed by brand name, in line with UKMi[iii] recommendations.
Cost savings compared to leading brand competitors[iv] have been identified as:
- Cimizt® (£3.80) vs Marvelon® (£6.45) containing ethinylestradiol 30 micrograms/desogestrel 150 micrograms, saving 41% on a 3 x 21 tablet pack
- Levest® (£1.80) vs Microgynon® 30 (£2.82) containing ethinylestradiol 30 micrograms / levonorgestrel 150 micrograms, saving 36% on a 3 x 21 tablet pack
- Lizinna® (£5.37) vs Cilest® (£7.16) containing ethinylestradiol 35 micrograms/norgestimate 250 micrograms, saving 25% on a 3 x 21 tablet pack
- Zelleta® (£3.51) vs Cerazette® (£8.68) containing desogestrel 75 micrograms, saving 60% on a 3 x 28 tablet pack
Dr Farook Al-Azzawi, Consultant Gynaecologist at Leicester Royal Infirmary, said:
“This is a wonderful – and rare - opportunity for CCGs to make impressive cost savings. It is not often that we have a chance to easily cut costs, and here we have it.
By simply changing the name of the drug and informing the patient that it is exactly the same contraceptive pill containing the same active ingredients, but with different name, packaging and manufacturer, we have the opportunity to save an average of up to £83,165 per CCG[v].
This process is so much easier than changing entire therapies, and then having consequent reviews and potential side effects to deal with. We can keep the treatment the same, but a simple change to a branded generic can make vital financial savings across CCGs.”
Dr Tew, GP and Partner in one of Leicester’s largest surgeries, said:
“It makes absolute sense to switch to branded generic products such as Cimizt®, Lizinna® and Zelleta®, as patients are receiving the medication they require with an equivalent brand where switching is therapeutically neutral, but at a fraction of the price. This really helps us to take some of the financial pressures off the surgery’s prescribing budget.”
Danesh Gadhia, Director at Leicester-based Morningside Healthcare, said:
“Our expertise in contraceptives manufacture with Levest® has led to the development of a further three new branded generic oral contraceptives.
After years of generic prescribing, one of the key areas that CCGs and GPs can make financial savings is therapy areas where the UKMi recommends prescriptions should be written by brand name; and one such area is oral contraception.
Prescribers can be sure of the cost-effectiveness of prescribing these branded generic ranges, at a time when the pressure really is on for costs to be cut whilst maintaining medical standards.”
New resources available
To support the launch, Morningside Healthcare has created a range of resources for Healthcare Professionals and patients, available for download from www.morningsidecontraceptives.com
These include:
- A savings calculator – to find out exactly how much a practice or CCG could save
- Letter templates - to download, print and give to patients at their next consultation
- Patient Advice leaflets
- Each contraceptive brand of Cimizt®, Lizinna®, Levest® and Zelleta® is supported by its own patient website, where patients can find out more information about their prescribed contraception and find answers to commonly asked questions.
Morningside Healthcare has been established since 2001 and has been successfully licensing and supplying generic products to the pharmaceutical industry in the UK and worldwide. Its product licences cover a broad range of therapeutic categories.
Levest®, Cimizt®, Lizinna®and Zelleta®are available now from all mainline wholesalers.
For further sales information please contact customer services on 01509 217705 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For medical enquiries please contact medical information on +44 (0) 116 478 0322.
[i]Data on File: Prescribing Cost Analysis April 1st 2011 – March 31st 2012
[ii]From 1 February 2010; contract periods vary depending on NHS regions. Specific end dates can be obtained from Morningside
[iii]UK Medicines Information
[iv]NHS Price as listed in Chemist & Druggist July 1st; Data on File at Morningside Healthcare Ltd; UK PPRS 2013
[v]Data on file – NHS England and CCG Cost Saving; based on the national figures for NHS England, a switch to these four branded generics can lead to a maximum potential average savings per CCG of £83,164.72