January 2026 Category M prices announced
The Drug Tariff Category M pricelist for January 2026 has been published on the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) website.
The latest outturns from the margin survey of independent pharmacies indicate that at the end of Q1 2025/26, there remains an over delivery of medicine margin of circa £158m.
The announcement on the NHSBSA website indicates that the January Drug Tariff will reflect:
- Adjustments for underlying market price movements in the reference period July-September 2025.
- A margin adjustment of -£16.8m per quarter, informed by the latest results from the margin survey of independent pharmacies
- This will be applied across Categories M and A (approximately half of the total from Category A and half from Category M).
CPE is currently seeking more details from DHSC around the adjustments made to the January Drug Tariff, and will update this news article with more information in due course.
In consultation with DHSC regarding Drug Tariff reimbursement, CPE continues to stress the unsustainable financial pressures already being experienced by English pharmacy businesses, making further reductions impossible to absorb.
We remain concerned about the significant number of products being reimbursed at economically unviable prices; the NHS focus on low prices over stability of supply continues to drive disruptions in availability, leading to hundreds of products requiring emergency concession status, and putting patients’ access to medicines at risk. Further reductions in reimbursement prices will only exacerbate these issues.
