In my latest guest column evidence baseI am joined by my colleague Tiago Beck as we investigate how global pricing reforms are reshaping the European pharmaceutical landscape.
Based on its session at ISPOR Europe 2025, the column explores the growing tension between the EU’s access ambitions and international policy pressures – offering a timely perspective in light of last week’s agreement on the EU pharma package. An excerpt is below.
The EU finds itself in an unprecedented policy paradox. It has recently completed negotiations on its landmark pharmaceutical reform – formally known as the EU General Pharmaceutical Legislation and commonly referred to as the ‘Pharmaceutical Package’ – in an effort to improve patient access and promote innovation through enhanced intellectual property incentives. However, the potential success of these efforts may already be challenged by ongoing global developments. especially, US Most Favored Nation (MFN) Pricing Initiative This directly threatens the access objectives the reforms seek to achieve. Despite taking more than two years to negotiate, the EU’s pharmaceutical package paid little attention to the international pricing environment, and as a result, the reforms risk becoming an exercise in elegant policy design divorced from practical market realities.
You can read the entire column here.
