Exclusive: Drug pricing debate heats up as regulators seek answers, look at reforms

With the US Senate launching an investigation into the steep drug price hikes, the ongoing debate on the pharmaceutical industry’s pricing mechanism is once again under the scanner.

“It’s [the debate] always been there," says Carole Longson, director of the Centre for Health Technology Evaluation at UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

The NICE is responsible for issuing guidance on drugs and technologies for use across the England and Wales. The regulator is responsible for reviewing the treatments administered via the National Health Service (NHS), and undertakes a consistent evaluation process for recommendations. Once the regulator issues its final guidance on a technology, it replaces local recommendations across the country.

“The important point here is that there is a signal that the healthcare system is prepared to pay more for more benefit - the question is, how much? So it’s not the principle  of wanting more for more benefit - that’s there - the issue is how do you match that added benefit for cost in a way that’s sustainable, Prof Longson said in an exclusive interview with The Pharma Letter.

"With the increase in the cost of cancer medicines, there comes a point where no healthcare system can work in a sustainable way without having a conversation about how you manage that. That, I think, is where we are at in the UK, but perhaps not exclusively in the UK,” said Prof Longson.