Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: The UN fumbles badly over access to drugs while developers think again about R&D strategies
Endpoints assesses the big biopharma R&D stories of the week, with a little added commentary on what they mean for the industry.
The UN has a terrible idea for resolving the drug pricing issue
The brouhaha over drug prices this year has now helped stir up one of the worst proposals we’ve heard of so far. This one comes from the UN, which we occasionally forget exists at all. The problem with drugs, says the UN, is that all that nasty IP used by biopharma companies to control these products is allowing them to price therapies beyond the reach of the poor. The US and other countries should do what they can to demand ready access to the drugs taxpayers help provide research support for, says the UN. We beg to differ. Any solution regarding drug pricing is going to have to be market-based, unless you just want to destroy the market. If you destroy the market, there aren’t going to be many drug prices to fight over, because we’ll have far fewer therapies. There are market-based initiatives — let’s all applaud Brent Saunders on that score — which can go a long way to resolving this debate. Manufacturers, we note, have also been going a long way to develop pricing structures for each economy. As for the UN, it might want to find another crisis to address. They’re already irrelevant on the drug pricing debate.
This article is for premium subscribers only
Upgrade to a premium subscription plan for unlimited access, and join our community of key biopharma players.