April 2025 Category M prices announced
The Drug Tariff Category M pricelist for April 2025 has been published on the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) website. This price list includes a margin increase of +£12.3m per quarter, as the result of the CPCF settlement announced for 2024/25 and 2025/26. Without the agreed uplifts included in the settlement, the margin adjustment would have instead been £36m per quarter lower, i.e. a decrease of -£23.8m per quarter instead of an increase of +£12.3m.
Based on our analysis of the Category M price list for April 2025, Community Pharmacy England estimates there will be an overall reduction in reimbursement of approximately -£13.6m per quarter on like-for-like Category M lines, resulting from the combination of:
- A margin increase of +£12.3m
- Adjustments reflecting price movements in the underlying market (i.e. reductions in the buying prices of medicines)*
*In addition to margin adjustments, which are the subject of discussion between DHSC and Community Pharmacy England, the Category M Drug Tariff price list also reflects movements in the underlying market (i.e. movements in buying prices of medicines). These are systematic and not subject to negotiation.
The reference period used by DHSC for setting the April Drug Tariff is the Oct 2024 – Dec 2024 period. The level of movement in April reimbursement for like-for-like medicines indicates that according to market data gathered by DHSC, prices on these medicines reduced in the region of -£26m per quarter in the reference period. CPE’s analysis of market data from the same period indicates this is plausibly correct.
