Figures from the NHS watchdog, NHS Improvement, reveal that the British National Health Service (NHS) saved a total of GBP324m in the last financial year thanks to biosimilars and generics, instead of more costly alternatives, Pharmafile reported on Thursday.

Between 2016 and 2017, the NHS spent GBP17.4bn on medicines but it is thought that this figure could be further reduced by using more cost-effective alternatives.

Around 15% of NHS spending is used to procure drugs but the amount has increased by an average of 5% each year as drug prices steadily increase.

In particular, the watchdog revealed that the NHS had saved nearly GBP100m by using an Infliximab biosimilar to treat rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. What's more, an Imatinib generic anti-cancer medicine led to savings of over GBP65m.

NHS Improvement noted that it aims to make a further GBP200m saving this year, and it hopes to save approximately half of this amount through the use of a trastuzumab biosimilar as a treatment for breast cancer.