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The Dutch government invests tens of millions of euros
every year in small biotech companies which are developing the expensive
medicines ministers are trying to make cheaper, according to a new report.
The
government places no conditions on its loans and grants to biotech and pharma
start-ups about the eventual prices they will charge for their drugs, the
report, by multinational research groups Somo and Wemos said.
‘Pharmaceutical
companies argue that the reason their drugs are so expensive is because
research and development is expensive, but this is simply not true,’ said Somo
researcher Esther de Haan.
‘Much of the cost of research and development is
borne by unconditional public investment. Because of this, the government loses
its chance to influence drug pricing.’
In addition to funding fundamental
research conducted by universities, national and regional governments also
invest heavily in start-up and spin-off biotech companies – companies founded
by researchers wanting to commercially develop promising scientific findings.
Large private investors usually move in later, when the medicine looks more
promising and the risk to investors is therefore lower, the report points out.
‘These private investors then make a huge profit by selling their shares at a
high price to other companies in the pharmaceutical industry,’ the report said.
The researchers look at several case studies including Acerta’s development of
Calquence, a cancer drug currently on sale in the US for $15,000 a month. The
drug was developed with the help of both Dutch national and regional government
funding.
Health minister Bruno Bruins told the Volkskrant that the researchers
‘had a point’ and that he would discuss the findings with the economic affairs
ministry, which runs most of the investment funds.
‘We should not be paying big
prices for drugs which were partly developed with taxpayers’ money,’ the
minister said.
Campaign
Bruins has criticised the pharmaceutical industry
following two high profile cases involving soaring drug prices. In January,
Bruins reacted angrily to a decision by Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Novartis to
put up the price of a drug to treat a rare form of cancer five fold, describing
it as ‘outrageous‘.
And in November, Amsterdam’s AMC teaching hospital was
given the green light to make its own version of a licenced drug to treat a
rare metabolic disorder.
The hospital began making its own version of the drug
after manufacturer Leadiant ramped up the price by around 500% to €200,000 per
patient per year.
The Dutch healthcare institute Zorginstituut Nederland has
also said insurers should stop paying for expensive drugs if pharmaceutical
companies continue to refuse to say how they arrive at the price.
Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva has vowed to defend itself after being accused of orchestrating price-fixing among drugmakers in a US antitrust lawsuit https://t.co/VGSZSsPCOw— AFP news agency (@AFP) 11 mei 2019
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