Novartis expects a more difficult pricing environment for drugs in the United States in the years ahead, its chief executive told a results conference call on Tuesday.
“We expect pricing to become more difficult in the U.S. over the next three to five years,” Joe Jimenez said.
Both major U.S. presidential candidates have cited concern about drug pricing.
Swiss rival Roche’s Chief Executive Severin Schwan had said last week he did not see a “fundamental change” in U.S. price pressure after the Nov. 8 presidential election, regardless of which candidate wins.
Jimenez also said Novartis was on track to reach $1 billion sales in biosimilars this year. He said Novartis would focus on bolt-on acquisitions and a larger deal would be considered only if it was “very attractive” to Novartis, he said.
By Silke Koltrowitz and Paul Arnold
Source: Reuters
A monkeypox outbreak is emerging in the U.S. and Europe, and at least one country is amping up countermeasure preparedness. Bavarian Nordic has secured a contract with an unnamed European country to supply its smallpox vaccine, called Imvanex in Europe, in response to the emergence of monkeypox cases, the Danish company said Thursday.
Moderna’s recent chief financial officer debacle—in which Jorge Gomez departed on his second day on the job—raised questions about the company’s hiring process given its rush to global biopharma prominence. The most obvious one: How was it possible for Gomez to be hired when he was under investigation by his previous employer, Dentsply Sirona of Charlotte, N.C.
Merck & Co. is plucking a cancer project from the branch of Chinese-based Kelun Pharmaceutical for up to $1.4 billion, but details from the New Jersey-based Big Pharma have been hard to come by. The deal, first disclosed Monday on the Shenzhen stock exchange, has Merck handing over $47 million in upfront cash in exchange for ex-China rights to a “macromolecular tumor project.”
