Close regulation of the pharmaceutical industry has been seen as essential for the protection of the public for most of the last century. Yet the interest of government and the public in the low-cost provision of medicines can often conflict with the existence of a strong, profitable and innovative pharmaceutical industry. This book explores the tensions between seemingly divergent goals, putting the role of pharmaceutical sector regulation into national and wider contexts. It gives an overview of the evolution of the UK pharmaceutical market and its control; describes the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme and other supply-and-demand-side interventions; and offers a number of suggestions for the future of medicines regulation and research.