Global Pharmaceutical Management: Building a Fair Pricing Policy

Improving access to healthcare globally represents a pressing societal challenge requiring a comprehensive approach. Stakeholders will need to work together in their quest to finding sustainable solutions that promote universal access to care. In addition, there is a need to better define the distinctive roles of the different stakeholders in the area of global access to pharmaceuticals. While the main task of innovation-driven pharmaceutical companies is to develop high quality, innovative medicines that address unmet needs, they can through their pricing policies influence the affordability of these medicines. Given this responsibility and the impact this will have on society and public health, companies have to be conscious about designing affordable pricing strategies. Since pricing is an important factor in the mix of activities to enhance access, the role of industry in the wider public domain is to be a trustworthy partner. Yet, industry cannot be held solely responsible for securing ‘health for all’ which is considered the prerogative of government. To maximize industry’s contribution, we recommend using a differentiated, equitable pricing policy aimed at enhancing access. We developed a number of pricing scenarios to establish an optimal balance that would allow stimulating both innovation and access.