Astrazeneca’s boss said that unless the UK splurges on spending on new drugs, it could end up on a path that could only lead to cheaper drugs instead of cutting-edge treatments.
Pascal Soriot made the comments between the pharmaceutical industry between the Pharmaceutical Industry and the Government blamed for the drug pricing that stopped or regretted almost £ 2bn of investments in the UK this year.
Britain has been heavily criticized by Pharma executives as well as high-profile scientists such as Sir John Bell, for not spending more than other countries. Donald Trump has also put pressure on Pharma companies to lower their drug prices in the US and increase them elsewhere.
“To say that countries can only afford to compromise [drugs] It’s just an extreme case,” Soriot said on Thursday, stressing that “this is not the case now, when things are going on at the time they happened for many hours, when they happened at the time they didn’t. “
Soriot explained that the National Institute for health and care (Nice) Cost-effectiveness ratios for new drugs have not changed in two decades,” and We have had a lot of inflation in the last five years”.
Labor has begun drawing up fresh proposals to end the drug pricing freeze after tough talk by the industry and the Trump administration.
Soriot explained that under these proposals, the cost thresholds of Nice will increase by 25%, with an adjustment to obtain a total increase of 25%. He called a “Many adjustments based on … inflation “in these channels, in addition to a “great moderation” in the rate at which the government flows profits to the NHS.
Under a voluntary scheme, drugmakers pay a proportion of their UK profits to the government. Currently, companies pay about a quarter of profits, compared to rebate rates of 5.7% in France and 7% in Germany. Talks between the industry body and ministers renegotiated the deal without a deal in late August.
The Boss of Astrazeneca says that the government should double spending on new drugs to 0.6% of GDP, from 0.3% now – in line with other countries.
According to the thresholds of Nice, drugs worth between £ 20,000 and £ 30,000 per year obtained for patients represent good value for the NHS. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry calls for this to be doubled between £40,000 and £50,000.
Soriot explained that these changes were badly needed. “The only thing I can say is what I believe will attract investment to the UK, and really create economic growth on top of improving access for patients.”
The Boss of Astrazeneca, who is one of the highest paid executives of those listed in the UK, argued that buying NHS treatments would save NHS patients elsewhere, by diagnosing and treating patients.
He denied that the company was moving slowly to the US, but warned that Europe, including the UK, was losing out to the US and China in terms of introducing new technologies.
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Astrazeneca, Britain’s biggest drugmaker, recently announced it would list its shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange as a “knock-back for London”. However, it insisted on keeping its headquarters in Cambridge, England, and remain listed on the London Stock Exchange.
It is a number of pharmaceutical companies that have returned from investments in the UK in recent months, the development of the failure of Speke in Speke in Cambridge in September.
At the same time, the company announced a $50bn investment in the US, and a Deal with the Donald Trump Administration to lower prescription drug prices Instead up to 80% and sold directly to consumers to cut out expensive middlemen. This is a reprieve from threatened US tariffs for three years.
Astrazeneca said on Thursday that it has broken ground on its $4.5bn manufacturing facility in Virginia, which will create 3,600 jobs for its pharmaceutical and metabolic portfolio, including its Glp-1 anti-obesity pill that of intermediate clinical studies.
It reported an 11% increase in revenues to $43bn for the July to September quarter, with 16% growth in cancer drugs, and made a pre-tax profit of $3.2BN, up 70%.