The Aspects of Pharmaceutical Pricing

The business model of the pharmaceutical industry with a third party and often public payer has always puzzled people. The patients who benefit from treatment with a medicine pay part or even nothing of the cost. Physicians who drive volume by prescribing drugs might have an interest in cost if their drug budget is controlled or prescribing habits are monitored. Or they are indifferent to price and let therapeutic value dominate their decisions. The public or private payer has to operate within restricted budgets and hence tries to control spending by cost containment regulations.

Within this constrained environment pricing is more important than ever. Too high a price may block market access, too low a price will leave money on the table. As successful products sell billions of dollars globally, even a small deviation of the optimum price will have a big impact on business.

Moreover, pricing does not stop at launch. Multi-country interactions, new indications, new formulations, new competitors, mandatory price decreases, more efficient procurement practices, and finally loss of exclusivity complicate life cycle price management.

This interactive training will touch upon all aspects of pharmaceutical pricing. How are prices derived? What is a fair price? How can one defend list price against decisions of authorities, aggressive procurement techniques and competitive price moves? How should one react when a non-differentiated competitor tries to steal share by lowering price?