American decision-makers should take note while biopharmaceutical companies are retreating to investments in the United Kingdom, Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said in a CNBC interview.
Lilly recently paused for creating a biotechnology incubator called Gateway Labs in the United Kingdom, joining other biopharmacy companies that have suspended investments in the country with regard to concerns about the pricing of drugs and other policies in the United Kingdom, the country controls the price of brand medicines in several ways, in particular by paying for companies government spends more than expected on brand drugs. The rate of approximately 23% of this year was higher than expected, which caused a generalized decline in industry.
“The United Kingdom has been on a long slow slip path of a biopharmaceutical leader to really a Lagcard, and this has happened in the past 20 years thanks to a certain number of political errors,” said Ricks. “The most important thing is that their market is really unattractive for us, and it has become more unattractive each year.”
“Thus, in the context of global competition for resources, global competition for investments, they evaluately evaluate, and it is despite a solid and scientific university basis,” he added during an interview about a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant of $ 5 billion that Lilly built in Virginia.
Ricks said Lilly had been in talks with British decision -makers on changes concerning intellectual property and regulations, but interrupted these discussions while waiting for a political response from the British government. He said that the possible negotiations between the United States and the United Kingdom on a trade agreement could “shake things up”, but until the situation changes, it is “quite difficult” to consider investing there.
“I think it is a message to our country, or any other, that capital goes where it is sought, where there are advantages to invest. And right now, it’s not really the United Kingdom,” he said.
The United Kingdom and other European countries for years have prioritized the cost of drugs. American legislators recently gave Medicare the possibility of negotiating the prices of drugs for the first time, and President Donald Trump wants to go even further, floating ideas as binding the price of drugs in the United States at the speed of similar countries. In the meantime, Trump is considering prices on pharmaceutical products in a decision that would upset decades of previous preceding from the drugs.
Trump wants European countries to pay more for medicines and the United States to pay less. Pharmaceutical companies like Lilly said they agreed with this objective, but it is not clear how they will achieve it. European companies have “controlled the art of maintaining low prices”, which will make prices abroad difficult, said Ricks.
“I think it’s difficult to be honest, and that is why we need the US government and the American trade relations ambassador, as well as the Ministry of Commerce and all the others to help us,” said Ricks. “If we don’t have a market abroad, I think it’s a major problem.”
“I think the administration has spoken of the objectives of their pricing policy is to increase prices in developed countries and reduce it in the United States,” he added. “And conceptually, we are for that, but we must see the facts on the ground in Europe. So far, they have not done so, and the United Kingdom is an excellent example.”
Lilly recently increased the price of Mounjaro in the United Kingdom on the private market. Ricks said it would be “a minor thing” for Lilly’s affairs because these sales are not a large part of the world’s income, but he pointed out as an example of the place where the United Kingdom is late. The country only covers the medication for obesity in limited circumstances, which means that most people who take it for weight loss pay from their pocket.
“All this is part of the problem that new expensive drugs are not listed or await three, four, sometimes five years, then your patent is almost expired. So these are the kinds of things we need to help our government to change,” said Ricks. “In the United States, we are launching a new product, it is available the next day. This is not the case in Europe, and this kind of pressure on companies is one of the reasons why people can see the lower prices with the government-oriented systems I have spoken.”
