THE cost of new medicines is a fiendishly complicated and controversial business. Drugs companies invest huge sums in research. When they develop a medicine that works, they naturally expect a return.

Nevertheless, the NHS has a limited budget. It has a duty to use that budget efficiently, so that it can treat as many patients as possible.

It is good, therefore, to see GPs in York making a stand by pressing to be allowed to us a cheaper, unlicensed drug to treat a common disease – taking on the pharmaceutical industry, European law and British red tape in the process.

Age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of sight loss in people aged 50 and over.

The drug licensed in the UK to treat the disease is Lucentis. A much cheaper drug, Avastin, has been shown to be just as effective.

The Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) claims that by switching to Avastin instead, it could save up to £4 million a year – money which could be used for other treatments. Nationally, it says, the NHS could save up to £800 million a year.

The problem is that Avastin is not licensed for the treatment of macular degeneration. It is made by the same company – Genetech – which makes Lucentis, but was developed as a treatment for bowel and breast cancer, and is only licensed to be used for that. The General Medical Council (GMC) says that under European law, prescribing an unlicensed drug purely on cost grounds when a licensed drug already exists is illegal.

The CCG plans to challenge the GMC, and is urging the National Institute for Clinical Health and Excellence (NICE) to approve Avastin for treating macular degeneration. York’s GPs deserves huge credit for taking such a stance. We hope that, for the sake of patients, both the GMC and NICE listen.