1. Pink Sheet
  2. >>Market Access

Multiple Sclerosis Drug Category Heats Up; So Does Spending

 
• By Jessica Merrill

MS drug spending is skyrocketing due to premium-priced new drugs and defensive price hikes across the category, making the therapeutic area a management priority for payers. Insurers are largely relying on aggressive contracting with manufacturers to manage the category, but new launches are unlikely to secure preferred formulary placement without comparative safety and efficacy data.

With the launch of two new drugs in 2010 and several more therapies expected in the next two years, the multiple sclerosis drug market holds good news for patients and physicians who have a wider range of treatment options to choose from. But drug spending in the category is also skyrocketing due to premium-priced new drugs and defensive price hikes across the category. The therapeutic area has become a priority for cost containment among managed care.

Nonetheless, given the serious nature of the disease and in the absence of low-cost generic alternatives, payers’ hands are somewhat...

More from Market Access

US Pricing Reform: New Products Offer ‘On Ramp’ To Implementation, Lilly’s Ricks Says

 
• By Cathy Kelly

Eli Lilly's CEO argued that pricing reforms aimed at existing drugs would be “hard to sustain or justify,” while other companies suggested a growing interest in direct-to-consumer sales programs.

EU Must Up Competitiveness To Counter US Tariffs And Pricing Woes For SMEs

 
• By Francesca Bruce

Companies in Europe cannot delay business decision making much longer to wait for more certainty on major US policy shifts on tariffs and pricing.

50% Levy On India And Brazil, US Tariffs Leave Global Trade, Forecasts In Disarray

 
• By Vibha Ravi

50% tariffs on US imports from India, a range on others, an uncertain outcome of Section 232 investigations of pharma and talk of BRICS tariffs are making the forecasting environment for the pharma industry extremely difficult, the Pink Sheet finds in this infographic analysis.

England: Pharma Firms To Benefit From Parallel HTA And Regulatory Pathway

 
• By Eliza Slawther

The UK drug regulator and England’s health technology assessment agency have joined forces under an information sharing agreement, aimed at accelerating patient access to newly approved medicines by three to six months.

More from Pink Sheet

Global Pharma Guidance Tracker - July 2025

 
• By Vibha Sharma and Anabel Costa-Ferreira

Stay up to date on regulatory guidelines from around the world with the Pink Sheet’s Guidance Tracker. The complete Global Pharma Guidance Tracker, with sortable and searchable listings going back to 2014, is available online.

Research Advances And Filings Prompt EMA To Revise Alzheimer’s Trial Guideline

 
• By Neena Brizmohun

Following EU approval of the first disease-modifying treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, and with a second expected soon, the European Medicines Agency plans to update its guidance to support the design of state-of-the-art clinical trials for the disease and enhance drug development.

50% Levy On India And Brazil, US Tariffs Leave Global Trade, Forecasts In Disarray

 
• By Vibha Ravi

50% tariffs on US imports from India, a range on others, an uncertain outcome of Section 232 investigations of pharma and talk of BRICS tariffs are making the forecasting environment for the pharma industry extremely difficult, the Pink Sheet finds in this infographic analysis.