GSK chief: Drug prices should be lower
▻http://www.pharmatimes.com/Article/13-03-18/GSK_chief_Drug_prices_should_be_lower.aspx
Drug prices should be lower and the high cost of research is a myth – these are the frank words of GlaxoSmithKline’s boss Sir Andrew Witty.
Speaking to a conference in London last week and reported by Reuters, Sir Andrew said the $1 billion price tag of R&D, often touted by pharma firms and the ABPI, was “one of the great myths of the industry”.
This is because it was an “average figure” that includes money spent on treatments that fail in later stages, costing firms hundreds of millions of dollars.
“It’s not unrealistic to expect that new innovations ought to be priced at or below, in some cases, the prices that have pre-existed them,” he went on. “We haven’t seen that in recent eras of the (pharma) industry, but it is completely normal in other industries.”
Looking at his own UK-based firm, Sir Andrew said he has managed to increase the rate of return on R&D investment as because fewer drugs have failed in Phase III development.
“If you stop failing so often you massively reduce the cost of drug development,” he said, adding: “It’s why we are beginning to be able to price lower.”