Statins prescriptions in England represent the largest part of NHS drug bill, estimated at £738 million in 2004. These statins are dominated by atorvastatin and simvastatin.

The number of statin prescriptions is set to rise sharply following the publication of new guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

The NHS in England has estimated that over £2bn can be saved in the next five years if doctors simply switched patients to cheaper generic statins,  two senior doctors told BMJ.

In May 2003 the UK simvastatin patent expired. However, atorvastatin will remain on patent until 2011 and by simply switching from the expensive lower doses of atorvastatin to cheaper simvastatin, doctors could help save massive amount of money for NHS.
"It is time for the United Kingdom to implement therapeutic substitution of simvastatin nationally by switching patients currently taking lower doses of atorvastatin, and prescribing generic simvastatin 40mg for new patients needing primary prevention of coronary heart disease," the authors write in BMJ. "This policy would save £2bn, increase value for money, and release much needed resources to other areas of the NHS."

Source: BMJ Volume 332, pp 1344-5

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