pharma
European drugmakers urge governments to pay more
From STAT's Drew Joseph: Drug companies have been clear they want European countries to pay them more for their medicines. A new open letter spelling out that argument is notable for its signatories: the chairs of nine European pharma companies.
“We are proud Europeans,” begins the letter, signed by the chairs of AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi Group, Ipsen, GSK, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Roche, and Sanofi.
The collaborative push beats many of the same rhetorical drums that the industry has long been making — that failing to invest in medicines threatens both patient access to new drugs and European economies. As it is, the continent has been losing R&D spending, manufacturing investments, and clinical trials to the U.S. and China, a trend that will only worsen unless European countries are willing to change the commercial landscape in their borders, the letter contends.
But notably, the letter comes as the U.S. government has thrown its weight behind the drugmakers' campaigns to get Europe to pony up for drugs, and as pharma companies increase their warnings that they'll withhold their products from European markets unless countries agree to spend more on medicines.
“This is the result of decades in which Europe treated medicines as a cost to suppress rather than one of the best investments a government can make,” the company chairs wrote. They added: "Government policies send a powerful signal about how innovation is valued and the priority placed on ensuring that patients can access it. The message to innovators has been stark: Europe does not value what you do.”
The U.K. has agreed to spend more on drugs, and some companies in turn have subsequently announced new investments in the country. But other European countries, grappling with already constrained health budgets and demands to spend more on defense and energy, have not indicated a willingness to increase their drug spending.
politics
Overton is fit to lead FDA, Gottlieb and McClellan say
Tomorrow, the Senate health committee will hold a confirmation hearing for President Trump's nominee to lead the FDA, Heidi Overton. Ahead of the hearing, two former FDA commissioners, Scott Gottlieb and Mark B. McClellan, argue in an opinion piece that Overton has the ability to strengthen the agency.
She “has a long track record of thinking carefully about practical policy changes and the mechanics of implementing reforms,” wrote Gottlieb, who served in the first Trump administration, and McClellan, who served under George W. Bush.
They also note that Overton, who is currently Trump's deputy director of domestic policy, has close relationships with White House leadership. That will help her quickly move FDA policy through interagency processes, they say.
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