Fears that the pharmaceutical industry could be on a collision course with Europe's healthcare payers over new high priced medicines emerged at a recent meeting between industry leaders and the head of the UK's NICE.
Sir Michael Rawlins (pic), chairman of the UK's clinical and cost effectiveness body NICE shared a platform with senior industry executives at the recent Economist conference, with prices and access to new medicines one of the key issues.
The issue was brought into focus by a recent report in The New York Times on Roche/Genentech's Avastin which accused Genentech of 'price gouging' with new indications for breast and lung cancer due to cost around $100,000 a year in the US.
The article included a recent remark from William Burns, head of Roche's pharmaceutical division, defending high prices.
"As we look at Avastin and Herceptin pricing, right now the health economics hold up, and therefore I don't see any reason to be touching them," said Burns. "The pressure on society to use strong and good products is there."
Rawlins, restating that clinical and cost effectiveness measures were here to stay said the industry needed to very careful about the value it puts on its innovation.
"Nine hundred dollars a month [the proposed price of Avastin] is likely to be unaffordable and unreachable to most healthcare systems," he warned.
Read more here at Pharmafocus.
Insiders view: the golden goose is being strangled by Big Pharma who, in the absence of strong product pipelines, are overpricing the few new medicines they do manage to bring to market. This tactic will only work for a short time. Payors will revolt and ration.
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