CL pricing bands

I am most grateful for the comments given by Yogesh Patel, (Letters July 29).
He is quite right, Johnson & Johnson does spoil me and all of its customers by keeping a level playing field of charges. Its charges might be higher than most in the one-day market but at least I pay the same as Tesco for the same boxes of lenses. If he feels that it is inappropriate to praise J&J for its fair play then I apologise to all concerned. I agree there are other manufacturers who also play fair who don't get a mention.

The good news is that because of representation by practitioners like myself, those manufacturers that do have wide pricing bands that allow discounters to go below my buying price are now looking to redress the situation so that their products are not actively avoided as is now happening in the high streets.

I am confused by this question of surcharge for J&J product. I can only assume that Mr Patel is referring to the new Acuvue 1-Day Moist lenses which are coming out on August 15. They will be 15 per cent more costly than the current 1-Day lenses but hopefully patients who have end-of-day dry problems will feel it is worth paying extra. There are no plans that I have heard of to discontinue the current 1-Day lenses or change their price.

CIBA on the other hand has improved its Dailies in a most beneficial way without increasing the price, presumably because production cost was unaffected.Well done them and my patients are enjoying their new comfort too.

Mr Patel is quite correct that I am influenced by the product cost for my patients but not for the reason he supposes. Aren't we all concerned to give value for money and not to rip off the public? I don't want to be out of step with the marketplace. This is why I and others are making so much fuss over wide variations in the cost price that makes us look like profiteering cowboys and brings our profession into disrepute. However, if he likes, he can check with CIBA that my monthly figures have not altered a jot recently. My patients get what is clinically best for them and they pay the reasonable cost involved. I like CIBA products and have no intention of reducing their use. My appeal to CIBA and other manufacturers in a similar position is to adjust their discounted prices upwards and their long price downwards so that there is no more than 10 per cent in it.

There are many in the profession who say that we should get them cheaper than the discounters because we have the responsibility of introducing the product to the consumer, but this request has always been ignored! CIBA's products are unique and desirable so there is no need for wide price variations. Why sell at a loss and lose market share? It just doesn't make sense.

Nigel Burnett Hodd
London W1