Market Access After COVID-19: Sector Goodwill Or Hard Crackdown?

Drug pricing was knocked off the front pages for a few months during 2020, as the world adapted to lockdowns and shifted healthcare delivery online. It did not stay out of the headlines for long, though. Despite industry’s central role in unlocking us from the crisis, over-stretched health budgets are now an even more urgent problem. US President Biden said in his 28 April speech to Congress that he wants drug pricing reforms this year, to pay for wider health care coverage. Meanwhile, in an apparent turn of the tables, parts of Europe are showing a more industry-friendly stance as life sciences’ strategic importance grows. But drug price curbs are not going away there, either.

Drug price reform has featured on the ruling Democrat party wish-list for years. And since the party’s slim majority in...