Britain is poised to scrap the pricing mechanism for prescription medicines, setting a deadline of September 1 for the launch of a new deal with drug companies, the Financial Times said on Friday.

The newspaper, citing people with knowledge of government plans, said the Department of Health would say in a letter to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) trade body that it was giving notice on the mechanism.

The government said in August it planned to renegotiate the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS), covering the price paid by the state health service for branded medicines, in a bid to save money.

The ABPI responded by saying the drugs industry, which has already shed hundreds of jobs over the past year, could lose more money if the government failed to ensure a fair pricing environment.

The Department of Health was not immediately available for comment.