Pricing Debate

Typically, state intervention in pharmaceuticals is aimed at drug cost control which, if taken to extremes, can border on nationalism.

While the Omicron variant does not bode well for 2022, vaccine boosters and oral antivirals are the products from the pharmaceutical sector that should keep on giving. Even if partisan analysts choose to forget them.

CEO Dave Ricks told investors Lilly will succeed via volume-driven growth of nine key products launched since 2019, which its commitment to lower prices will facilitate.

While Democrat politicians - and most voters- want to see drug pricing negotiations introduced in the US for the first time, pharma leaders believe a deal on out of pocket costs will be agreed instead.

ICER's report on unsupported price increases highlighted seven drugs that cost the US health system $1.67bn due to price increases after rebates and other concessions.

From the latest COVID-19 advances to the emergence of a game changer for heart failure, Scrip’s editor in chief Eleanor Malone reviews the big stories of the past three months. Safety issues around JAK inhibitors and AAV vector-based gene therapy were also to the fore, while biopharma financing continued apace.

With the latest Delta variant wave in the rear-view mirror, vaccine and antiviral sales, and their impact on full-year guidance, are likely to remain the big swing factors in third-quarter earnings season.

"We are definitely worried," Tschudin said about some US drug price reform proposals. She also spoke with Scrip about competitive rebating and new growth opportunities for anchor brands.

Management updated investors on M&A strategy, US drug pricing reform and R&D investment.

In this week's podcast edition of Scrip's Five Must-Know Things: US industry warns over pricing; a setback for another gene therapy; a Phase II disappointment for Novartis; Actemra shortages cause CAR-T worries; and Sweden's Sobi set to go private. 

Big pharma leaders warn of steep cuts to R&D and US jobs if US drug pricing reform legislation paves the way for direct government price negotiations.

Paper by Bentley University researchers and West Health considers the impact of drug pricing reforms on large and small biopharma companies if Medicare is authorized to negotiate drug prices.