Roche and Novartis reach customs agreement with US.
Keystone-SDA
On Friday evening the US government announced an agreement with nine pharmaceutical companies, including Novartis and Roche subsidiary Genentech. In return for lower drug prices and investments, they are to be exempt from customs duties for three years.
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The two Swiss pharmaceutical giants reaffirmed their earlier intentions to invest billions in the production of medicines in the US. Roche, or rather its subsidiary Genentech, intends to invest $50 billion (CHF40 billion). Novartis has reaffirmed its previously announced investment of $23 billion.
Novartis said it had “voluntarily committed” to implement several measures as part of the agreement to support the US government’s drug pricing priorities. These include bringing future medicines to market in high-income countries at comparable prices.
In addition, the company wants to establish direct-to-patient platforms for individual drugs, which will be accessible via a government platform. Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan was present at the media conference at the White House.
Genentech announced on Friday evening that the agreement is aimed at reducing the cost of prescription drugs. For example, the company’s own influenza portfolio in the US is to be made available in future via the government platform and via the company’s recently launched direct-to-patient programme. This should facilitate access to certain medicines.
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The other pharmaceutical companies involved in the settlement are Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, Boehringer Ingelheim, Amgen, GSK, Sanofi and Merck & Co.
Large price reductions
Some of the price reductions for medicines in the US are drastic. Following a press conference, the US government published a fact sheet with further details on the individual deals. According to this, Genentech, for example, will reduce the price of its flu drug Xofluza from $168 to $50 for patients who buy it directly via the government platform.
The agreement marks the end of a months-long nail-biting battle. The US market is very important for both Swiss companies. More than 40% of Novartis’s annual revenue comes from the US, while Roche generates almost half of its sales in the US.
The agreement with the two pharmaceutical giants comes just one month after Switzerland signed a trade agreement with the US. As a result, the US has reduced the record-high tariffs of 39% on Swiss imports to 15%.
Adapted from German by AI/ts
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