Drugs sold by trust now in short supply

Cancer drugs sold by a hospital trust are now on a short supply list for the NHS, it has emerged.

The Royal Surrey County Hospital Foundation Trust was criticised in February for selling more than £4m of drugs abroad. It confirmed it had made £300,000 profit from the trade during the previous year.

The practice was declared "wholly unacceptable" by the Department of Health but the trust said it had sold drugs under licence and had not sold any in short supply at that time.

The Health Service Journal (HSJ) says it has obtained details of the 33 product lines sold by the trust, of which 13 were cancer drugs and four were HIV drugs. Four of the drugs have been listed as in short supply since at least November.

The HSJ said the trust sold 240 packs of the cancer drug Glivec between May and October 2009, with the drug listed as in short supply in November.

A spokeswoman for the trust said it had not sold drugs after they appeared on the short supply list.

The last order for Glivec (also known as imatinib) was sent out on 14 October and the drug was listed as in short supply 6 November, she said.

She added: "It is very misleading of the HSJ to claim that the Royal Surrey sold drugs on the short supply list.

"The trust constantly ensured that drugs were readily available and ceased trading the drug in question – imatinib – before the drug was put on the short supply list in November 2009.

"In the two months prior to that only small quantities were sold.

"There is also absolutely no evidence to suggest that the trust has played a part in creating a shortage of drugs."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "The first duty of the NHS must be to care for patients. For a hospital to put profit before care and potentially put lives at risk is shocking."