The balancing act that’s keeping pharma and biotech market access on its toes
- October 25, 2019
The launch of gene therapies introduced new benchmarks for pricing of pharmaceutical interventions. CAR-T cell therapy costs close to $500,000 per patient in the US, and €300,000 in Europe. Zolgensma®, gene therapy for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, is (at the time of writing) the most expensive drug in the world at $2.1m. Whilst such companies claim these […]
Confidential contracting – the road to flexible pricing
- March 5, 2019
Excellent clinical and financial value are drivers for success in pharma, but without efficient, targeted pricing and adequate confidential contracting schemes, the success of any product is not ensured.1 A post on drug pricing by Joseph Jimenez, then CEO of Novartis, attracted a lot of attention in 2016.2 Jimenez stated: “We believe in the efficacy […]
The vicious circle of pharmaceutical tendering
- October 22, 2018
Pharmaceutical tendering and contracting has long been common in healthcare for medical devices and diagnostics; the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Jamaica Commodity Trading Company have been using pharmaceutical tendering since the 1970s. In the 1990s, international institutions such as the World Health Organisation and the World Bank endorsed tendering as the preferred procurement process […]
Explaining the price of your product
- March 13, 2018
Many policy makers, physicians and patients complain about the prices of new pharmaceutical products. The pharmaceutical industry has recognised this perception, and though industry associations and individual companies have tried to explain why pharmaceutical companies need to charge the prices they do, this is failing.