Commercial Medicines Unit

Commercial Medicines Unit

A section of the Procurement Investment and Commercial Division of the UK Department of Health (DH), which focuses on strategic supply management and procurement of medicines for use in secondary (hospital) care. The CMU is involved with hospital pharmaceutical procurement across the NHS (England), and leads competitive tendering plans for implementing hospital framework contracts.
The CMU’s remit is to ensure a stable supply of critical drugs and to maintain, develop and realise the benefits of competition. Specific procurement programmes deliver framework agreements for the NHS to call off requirements targeted at generic, branded and specialised medicines. CMU works collaboratively with both NHS pharmacists and suppliers in collating and analysing the costs of secondary care medicines on behalf of both the DH and the NHS via its information systems.
CMU provides support in procuring: homecare, branded and generic medicines, dose banding, blood products, medical gases, nutrition/enteral products, childhood and other UK-wide vaccines, pharmaceutical countermeasures, savings, securing the benefits of transitions from branded to off-patent medicines, information and analysis of expenditure.