(Reuters) -The European Union should allow drug prices to rise to U.S. levels in order to attract investment, the bosses of two European pharmaceutical giants said in a letter published in the Financial Times on Wednesday.
The U.S. pays the most for drugs in the world, often nearly three times that of other developed nations.
“European price controls and austerity measures reduce the attractiveness of its markets,” Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan and Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson wrote.
“Against a backdrop of waning European biopharma competitiveness, the uncertainty of tariffs is further reducing incentives to invest in the EU.”
The bloc should set higher list prices and communicate spending targets for innovative medicines to reward innovation, the pharma bosses argued.
“In the new world context, Europe’s pharmaceutical model of producing in Europe and exporting to the US cannot continue,” they said, calling on the EU to strengthen its domestic market.
Over the past weeks, drugmakers have pledged to invest in the United States to deal with tariffs, which Washington says aim at boosting domestic manufacturing.
Roche said on Tuesday it would invest $50 billion in the U.S. over the next five years, while Novartis, Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson also announced sizeable investments recently.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has warned drugmakers it is considering linking U.S. medicine prices to lower amounts paid by other developed countries, Reuters reported.
(Reporting by Ariane LuthiEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
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