Pricing Strategies

China gets more complicated as multinational drug makers venture deep into it. Even with a local savvy business partner, Merck is learning to navigate through fast-shifting market dynamics amid policy changes, consumer perceptions of foreign brands, and competition from local firms as it takes stock of its market access, pricing and life cycle management strategies.

September saw the extreme price rises of the last few months subside in the UK, albeit still seeing a handful of treble-digit percentage average increases for products like telmisartan.

Policy experts and consultants recount their experiences shepherding manufacturers through the first round of Medicare price negotiations during a recent webinar.

A public interest group has accused the pharma major of using excessive pricing to bolster sales of blockbuster Humira, consequently damaging the health of Dutch patients. 

In a closely anticipated US Senate Committee hearing, Novo’s CEO was grilled by US senator Bernie Sanders and others on the high price of Ozempic and Wegovy in the country.

After years of heavy price and cost pressures that have taken a toll on firms operating in the US generics market, more recent quarters appear to have reflected a calmer and more predictable landscape. Generics Bulletin looks at the latest trends.

An effort to change the US Food and Drug Administration’s conclusion that its obesity treatment candidate retatrutide is a drug and not a biologic could give the product more time with unrestricted pricing in Medicare, among other benefits.

Industry says it is ready to work with the government on the recommendations from a major review of Australia’s health technology assessment system that covers areas such as discount rate reductions and setting up a separate budgetary allocation to temporarily subsidize access to certain drugs.

After UK apixaban prices started to creep up in July, the latest WaveData figures show several different presentations of the generic increasing their average price by multiples in August.

In a frank acknowledgement of Sandoz’s position in the US small-molecule generics market, the company’s North America president Keren Haruvi has indicated that the firm is “not looking to be a leader in the generics space” and is still suffering from a lack of investment made in its pipeline during the period several years ago when it was looking to sell the oral solids business.