The chief executive of generic drugmaker Sandoz (SDZ.S) said a proposal by the CEOs of Novartis (NOVN.S) and Sanofi (SASY.PA) to introduce a Europe-wide list price for new medicines is “deeply flawed” and would not solve global pricing inequities.
Richard Saynor told Reuters that the proposal – outlined in a letter to the Financial Times last week – ignores structural drivers of high drug prices in the United States.
“It made me smile, made me laugh,” Saynor said of the proposal, adding that he thinks the Trump administration will succeed in driving down prices for brand-name medicines. But he said big pharmaceutical companies should not respond by hiking prices in Europe, which would hurt patient access.
Saynor argued that U.S. patients have long borne a disproportionate share of costs for innovative medicines, while large drugmakers maintain high margins.
He cited Amgen’s (AMGN.O) autoimmune treatment Enbrel, which costs $70,000 per patient per year in the U.S., compared with $7,000 in Europe.
Earlier this month, Sandoz filed a U.S. antitrust lawsuit against Amgen, alleging the company blocked biosimilar competition, including Sandoz’s own version. Biosimilars are near-identical copies of complex biologic drugs whose patents have expired.
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