Roche chief urges Switzerland to pay more for new drugs after US deal

AFP | Geneva

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Roche’s chief executive called in an interview with Swiss media published yesterday for Switzerland to pay more for new drugs, to bring prices in line with those paid by Washington.

The Swiss pharmaceutical giant’s US subsidiary Genentech figures among 14 pharmaceutical companies which have so far signed on to US President Donald Trump’s push to cut some US drug prices.

Companies have been making these voluntary deals after Trump sent a letter to 17 major companies over the summer threatening sky-high tariffs if they did not lower drug prices.

Genentech joined the deal on Friday, agreeing to commit to “Most Favoured Nation” pricing: matching the lowest price offered in other wealthy nations, including Switzerland.

Switzerland is the country that “has the most to gain and the most to lose” in this equation, Roche chief Thomas Schinecker said in an interview with Switzerland’s Tamedia Group published by the Le Matin Dimanche weekly.

He said that the details of that agreement remained confidential, but that Washington in principle was seeking to see other wealthy countries contribute more to financing the development of new drugs, in line with their economic strength.

“The US administration wants the prices of recently marketed drugs to be harmonised in the future in eight countries: Denmark, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Canada and Switzerland,” he said.