Colombia, cancer and Novartis: why the Gleevec price war matters

Donald Trump’s warnings on drug prices and the tougher stance being taken by governments in Japan and Europe on paying for medicines make this a worrying time for pharma companies, as they nervously keep an eye on leaders’ pledges, policy changes and payer decisions in these mature markets.

Some companies and governments, meanwhile, will be just as interested in ongoing developments in a middle-income country in a Latin America, where a price war is intensifying that could have major repercussions on intellectual property standards internationally that pharma companies are so reliant on.

"At a stroke, this could destroy intellectual property - one of the fundamental frameworks the biomedical research sector relies on for its existence"