US Push to Cut Drug Prices Could Mean Longer Waits for European Patients
Researchers said 3 in 4 drugs studied would face higher losses in the US than sales in reference countries, increasing incentives to delay launches abroad.
- On Monday, a Lancet study warned that President Donald Trump's 'most-favored nation' pricing policy could reconfigure global pharmaceutical markets and delay new therapy launches abroad.
- To lower US drug costs, the administration tied Medicare prices to what 19 other wealthy nations pay, creating pilot programs GLOBE and GUARD to target $26 billion in savings.
- Analyzing 195 patented drugs, researchers concluded potential savings could drop by 80% due to secretive deals; 17 companies struck confidential agreements, cutting projected savings by 71%.
- Europe has seen a 35% fall in drug launches 10 months after the executive order; Alexander Natz, chief of biotech entrepreneurs' lobby Eucope, noted companies are reconsidering timelines.
- Economist Jaume Puig Junoy warned the policy may harm other countries without delivering large US benefits, while Kerstin Noelle Vokinger of the University of Zurich urged ensuring medicine availability is not delayed.
21 Articles
21 Articles
Patients in Europe may have to wait longer for new medicines due to a measure taken by the Trump administration to lower drug prices in the United States. This is according to a new study published in The Lancet. To limit losses on the American market, companies could raise prices in some European countries, the researchers suggest.
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Berlin, which has so far insisted that drug pricing is an internal matter, is now seeking a possible compromise with the US.
The US administration's strategy to reduce the price of medicines can lead pharmacists to review the way they launch and negotiate new treatments in Europe. Portugal, which uses prices from other European countries as a reference, can also feel the effects of this pressure.
Research has shown that although the Trump administration's most-favored-country drug price policy can lower drug prices in the US, pharmaceutical companies can have a negative impact on patients in other countries by raising drug prices in standard countries such as South Korea or delaying the launch of new drugs to cover losses.
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