Any drugmakers still thinking they got off easy when Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election may want to think again.
“I’m going to bring down drug prices,” the president-elect told Time Magazine in an interview that published Wednesday. “I don’t like what has happened with drug prices.”
The way he sees it, analysts and investors may have misunderstood his intentions, which are, he says, to follow through with pledges he made on the campaign trail. He’s shown support in the past for letting Medicare negotiate drug prices—and while he never went as far as his opponent, Hillary Clinton, in attacking the industry, the Medicare stance is a pharma-unfriendly measure that crosses his party lines.
Still, biopharma stocks—which had been depressed since Clinton’s initial promise to go after industry players—soared 9% the day after Trump’s election. Now, though, investors may be hearing Trump better; they sent industry shares south again Wednesday in response to his comments.
There’s at least one pharma CEO who won’t be one bit surprised by Trump’s latest pledge, and that’s Allergan chief Brent Saunders. Last week, he penned an op-ed in Forbes warning peers not to “fool” themselves.
“Limit your price increases before we all face the impact of government regulation that stifles innovation and patient care,” he warned. “ … The outcome on November 8 didn’t change the fact that many Americans are angry about the rising cost of healthcare and their medicines. This anger will fuel the discussion about affordability well into the future.”
He’s already taken his own advice, promising in September to limit price increases as part of a “social contract” with patients. And Novo Nordisk this week followed suit, laying out a price-increase promise of its own as one of several steps it plans to take amid the drug-pricing firestorm.
By Carly Helfand
Source: Fierce Pharma
Airnov provides critical healthcare industries with high-quality, controlled atmosphere packaging, to protect their products from moisture and oxygen. The business has manufacturing facilities in the USA, France, China and India and employs around 700 people.
Takeda of Japan has partnered with Hong Kong-based Hutchmed, gaining the commercial rights to colorectal cancer drug fruquintinib outside of China for $400 million up front, plus $730 million in potential milestone payments. Takeda also will help develop fruquintinib, which can be applied to subtypes of refractory metastatic colorectal cancer, regardless of biomarker status, the companies said.
On April 3, Scangos, who’s been chief executive officer at Vir since the start of 2017, will hand over the reins to Marianne De Backer, Ph.D. De Backer comes over from Bayer, where she currently heads up pharmaceutical strategy, business development and licensing. Alongside her CEO appointment, De Backer is set to join Vir’s board of directors, the company said Wednesday.