The Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG) Programme

Background

The Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG) is an agreement between the UK Government and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), running from 2024 to 2028. 

Under this scheme, approximately £400 million is going towards the landmark VPAG Investment Programme. This programme delivers investments across the four UK nations to accelerate innovation, improve patient access to medicines, and strengthen the UK’s global leadership in health technology and life sciences.

The All Wales Therapeutics and Toxicology Centre (AWTTC) is leading the delivery of the VPAG Investment Programme’s Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme in Wales. This national programme aims to ensure patients in Wales benefit from faster access to new and effective treatments, while supporting the NHS to make informed, sustainable decisions about medicines.

Programme governance

The VPAG Investment Programme Board (Wales) HTA provides strategic leadership and oversight. Reporting directly to the UK VPAG Investment Programme Board, the Welsh Board ensures that all initiatives align with UK-wide objectives while meeting the specific needs of NHS Wales.

A dedicated Programme Management Office co-ordinates delivery through four interlinked projects:

• Horizon scanning and financial forecasting
• Medicines ecosystem
• Implementation
• Unlocking data

Horizon scanning and financial forecasting

Preparing Wales for the medicines of tomorrow

This project is developing a ‘once for Wales’ horizon scanning service, providing early intelligence on new medicines and technologies in development. Through collaboration with UK partners such as UKPharmaScan and NICE, the service will:

• Identify new treatments to help the NHS to plan and prepare effectively.
• Deliver high-quality, real-time information for NHS financial and service planning in Wales.
• Support timely access to innovative medicines for patients in Wales.
• Undertake targeted reviews of high-impact medicines to support NHS system planning

Medicines ecosystem

Redesigning how medicines are assessed and accessed in Wales

This project aims to transform the way NHS Wales evaluates new medicines, ensuring fair, consistent, and evidence-based access.
It will:

• Review and modernise the Medicines Assessment Process in Wales.
• Develop a new Medicines Ecosystem, with updated inclusion criteria for assessment and a new Scrutiny Panel.
• Promote equitable access to clinically and cost effective medicines.
• Strengthen collaboration with UK initiatives such as NICE’s HTA Innovation Laboratory  and Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP).  

Implementation

Bridging innovation and clinical practice

This project focuses on ensuring that new medicines approved for use are used effectively and consistently across NHS Wales. Key priorities include:

• Enhancing support for uptake of medicines following assessment.
• Addressing challenges within complex medicine pathways.
• Strengthening governance and transparency for high-cost medicines through the Blueteq programme.
• Facilitating access to commercial arrangements through the Commercial Medicines Access Team (CMAT)  and Commercial Arrangement Scheme Wales Group (CASWG).

Unlocking data

Turning data into decisions

Unlocking the full potential of data is critical to improving medicines access and to enhancing patient outcomes. This project leads data-driven decision-making by:

• Unlocking and connecting datasets, in collaboration with Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) and other partners, to generate meaningful insights into prescribing patterns and patient outcomes, to reduce unwarranted variation.
• Maximising the value of programmes like Blueteq to ensure timely and equitable access to new medicines for patients in Wales.
• Creating innovative tools to capture, visualise and analyse data, supporting safer, more efficient and effective prescribing.
• Exploring enhanced analytics to support planning and optimal use of medicines across Wales.

Please contact us at awttc@wales.nhs.uk if you would like any further information about the VPAG Programme.