Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan says Europe needs a \u201ccomplete rethink\u201d of how it prices its drugs, warning that the entrance of new pharmaceuticals into its markets could be delayed.<\/p>\n
With his comments on Tuesday, Narasimhan echoed calls from leaders of other European drugmakers\u2014such as Roche and AstraZeneca\u2014who have been critical of Europe\u2019s healthcare policies, which they say hinder innovation.<\/p>\n
Last week, Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker referred to Europe\u2019s bureaucracy and over-regulation as \u201cmind-blowing\u201d and\u00a0warned<\/a> that the continent was falling further behind the United States and China as an industry innovator.<\/p>\n The criticisms come after the industry\u2019s top companies\u2014including Novartis, Roche and AstraZeneca\u2014have made most-favored-nation (MFN) pricing deals with the U.S. and with President Donald Trump asking other wealthy nations to pay their \u201cfair share<\/a>\u201d for medicines.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Germany\u00a0unveiled<\/a> a reform package that would cut healthcare costs by billions and would trigger discounts on branded medicines.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been large investors in Germany for decades and I would say more broadly, the pharmaceutical industry is one of the largest employers and sources of innovation in Europe,\u201d Narasimhan told reporters during a Tuesday conference call as Novartis revealed its first-quarter financials. \u201cPolicies like this send the wrong signal to a high innovation industry like ours, where we see U.S. and China actively investing in the biotech ecosystem to make it highly competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n On the flip side, the U.S. recently formed a partnership<\/a> with the U.K., which will free it from tariffs on pharmaceutical products exported to America in exchange for the U.K. adjusting the thresholds under which it assesses the value of new drugs.<\/p>\n