Drugmakers curb Swiss reimbursement applications over US pricing concerns
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Medicines are seen in this illustration taken, June 27, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
By Marleen Kaesebier
ZURICH, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Drugmakers are holding back applications for health insurance coverage in Switzerland over concerns that lower prices there could affect their U.S. business under drug-pricing policies introduced by the Trump administration, a study showed on Thursday.
About one-third of new innovative medicines were not submitted for coverage under Switzerland's mandatory health insurance system between January 2025 and June 2026, according to a survey by Swiss pharmaceutical industry group Interpharma, potentially limiting patient access to new treatments.
Switzerland is one of the countries used as a benchmark under the United States' so-called most-favoured-nation drug-pricing policy, which aims to lower U.S. medicine costs by comparing prices with those in other markets.
The policy has made some drugmakers more hesitant about launching new medicines in Europe for fear of undermining U.S. pricing.
"The survey shows drug makers no longer consider themselves able to launch new therapies in Switzerland in a timely manner under the current framework conditions, so as not to jeopardize prices in the United States," Interpharma said.
The survey found that seven of 22 new innovative drugs introduced during the period were not submitted for inclusion on Switzerland's reimbursement list, which determines whether drugs are covered by mandatory health insurance and sets the reimbursed price.
Another three were not submitted for Swiss market approval at all, which Interpharma also attributed to the U.S. most-favoured-nation policy.
While companies such as Roche and Novartis may still launch medicines in Switzerland, inclusion on the reimbursement list is important for broad patient access and establishes a price that could influence U.S. comparisons.
The 15 medicines submitted for reimbursement compared with an average of 24 submissions over the same 18-month period between 2019 and 2025, Interpharma said.
As a result, Swiss patients do not have access to about one-third of newly developed innovative medicines through mandatory health insurance, with the U.S. policy exacerbating an existing trend, the group said.
(Reporting by Marleen Kaesebier in Zurich. Editing by Mark Potter)
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