How much is a new drug worth? That’s the million-dollar question that health authorities around the world are grappling with as pharma companies demand higher prices. Drug companies and regulators around the world are increasingly at loggerheads over prices for new medicines. In Switzerland, pharma giant Roche recently pulled a cancer drug from the market after failing to agree on a final price with the regulator. In the UK, some industry heavyweights have scrapped investments and warned they may not sell new drugs in the country after a drawn-out battle with the health secretary over price setting. Pharma companies argue that drug regulators aren’t rewarding innovation fairly and are asking for unnecessary and costly evidence of the benefits of new treatments. Health authorities, however, worry about the rising cost of innovative medicines and about overpaying for drugs amid growing political and financial pressure to curb skyrocketing spending. “There is this political tension ...
