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The Department of Health and Social Care has agreed to raise the reimbursement price for Rybelsus tablets by over 50 per cent for the month of August.

The move follows manufacturer Novo Nordisk’s decision to increase the list price for all strengths of the semaglutide-containing tablets from £78.48 to £120, effective from August 5.

While the price change timetable would normally have meant the higher reimbursement price would be implemented from the September Drug Tariff, Community Pharmacy England said on Friday August 21 that it had persuaded the department to base its August reimbursement prices for Rybelsus on the higher list price of £120 a pack.

CPE said its intervention “has prevented community pharmacy owners from losing an estimated £2.6m”.

The reimbursement prices for generic and branded prescriptions of 1.5mg, 4mg and 9mg packs have all been redetermined for the month of August “even though the August 2026 Drug Tariff still displays the previous list prices,” the negotiator reassured contractors.

The current price change mechanisms lead to delays of one or, in some instances, two months in contractors seeing a reimbursement uplift on affected lines, which CPE said “can lead to dispensing at a loss” and has a “more significant” impact on high volume lines or where the list price jumps significantly.

CPE said it continues to raise this issue with its Government interlocutors to push for contractual reform to the price arrangements for branded products “so that there is no extra month’s delay in applying any new list price changes to reimbursement”.