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  NHS hit for millions by overcharging 'scam'
  
  Drug companies exploit loophole in the law to hike prices by as much as 2,000 per cent
  
  Drugs companies have been accused of "highway robbery" of the NHS by using a legal loophole
  
  to push up the price of medicines in some cases by up to 2,000 per cent - at a cost to the
  
  taxpayer of tens of millions a year.
  
  At least 15 drugs have substantially increased in price after being "flipped" from one firm to
  
  another, according to information obtained by doctors.
  
  The legal "scam" has prompted outrage from the British Medical Association - which has warned
  
  that vital treatments risk being denied to patients if costs rise so much that the NHS
  
  can no longer afford them.
  
  The controversial practice involves big-pharma firms selling on medicines commonly used by
  
  the NHS to businesses acting outside the Government's price-regulation scheme. The purchasing
  
  firms are then free to mark up the prices they charge the NHS.
  
  In one of the worst cases, the cost of an epilepsy drug prescribed to thousands of patients by the
  
  health service was increased by 24 times the original price. Meanwhile, testosterone patches
  
  given to both men and women suffering from hormone imbalances jumped from £26 per 300g
  
  to a £395 after being sold on. And the price of a medication used to treat mental-health problems
  
  such as anxiety and schizophrenia rocketed from around £4 per five millilitres to £23 -
  
  a mark-up of 607 per cent.

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