CEO of Swiss pharma giant Roche, Thomas Schinecker, said in a statement on Saturday that the agreements between pharmaceutical firms and Washington, aimed at lowering the prices of medicines in the United States, are expected to increase the prices of new drugs in Switzerland.
In the deals announced on Friday, the pharmaceutical companies, such as the U.S. unit Genentech of Roche, will reduce prices on medications sold to the U.S. Medicaid program for low-income individuals.
The White House claimed that the agreements implied that other nations were no longer able to exploit the U.S. innovation by means of price controls, and Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker told Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger that the goal of Washington was to ensure that other prosperous countries would contribute more to innovation.
Therefore, Schinecker indicated that the U.S would consider the economic power of other nations in setting prices. He reported that as long as the gross domestic product per capita of a country is higher compared to that of the United States, Washington would anticipate high prices of medicines in accordance with increased prosperity.
Schinecker stated that this would not immediately affect Switzerland, as drugs that already exist would not get more expensive. He said that this system would be followed by future prices.
He added that “For Switzerland, this would mean more; for Italy, less than in the U.S. All economies would make a relatively comparable contribution to investments needed for developing new therapies. Prices won’t change overnight, but I’d expect it to happen gradually with each new launch over the coming years.”
Politicians in Switzerland have also expressed concerns over the likelihood of a medicine price increase, yet the pharmaceutical sector is one of the big export earners, job and tax incomes.
Schinecker highlighted that it would have knock-on effects in case Switzerland opposed the erection of new medicines. He said, “Unfortunately, this would likely lead to further delays in introducing new medicines.”
The U.S. is using Denmark, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, Canada, and Switzerland as reference points in pricing its drugs, and Schinecker said Roche was negotiating with these countries.
He further added that he anticipated the pricing matter to be discussed in the Bern and Washington talks to formalize a deal that had been agreed upon in November to reduce U.S. tariffs on Switzerland.
World Bank statistics demonstrate that the Swiss GDP per capita is greater than that of the United States in the current U.S. dollar scale and the Purchasing Power Parity method.
