Drug pricing
EMD Serono will offer its fertility treatments on TrumpRx at a steep discount, and Roche’s direct-to-consumer offering will cover its flu pill Xofluza.
Reporting third quarter earnings on Tuesday, Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato said the healthcare giant has not yet secured a drug pricing deal with the White House, but discussions are ongoing.
J&J reports today, just two weeks after Pfizer secured certainty on tariffs and drug pricing. Analysts expect to hear about plans from the rest of the industry during third period earnings calls.
The British pharmaceutical giant has joined the direct-to-consumer push, following Pfizer and Amgen’s announcements in response to the president’s calls to lower U.S. drug prices.
GoodRx, an online platform that offers drug discount coupons to patients, is in talks with the government to participate in the forthcoming TrumpRx program.
The British proposal to increase support for pharma is “clearly positive,” according to analysts at Leerink, who noted that the NHS’ move will improve patient access to treatments.
Drug pricing criticism often fixates on a price at a single point in time but drug pricing is never static.
Amgen will offer its lipid-lowering drug Repatha directly to patients for $239 per month, representing a nearly 60% reduction from the current wholesale acquisition cost of $527.70.
A new survey from CRB showed that most manufacturing initiatives in the U.S. made in response to tariffs are coming from Big Pharma companies, while smaller biotechs are left to hope “the situation doesn’t get worse.”
Expanded exemptions for orphan drugs could mean prolonged protections for top-selling drugs like Merck’s Keytruda, which was initially approved under this designation in 2014.
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