Pharma plays chicken with U.K. prices

Last month, the Brits ripped up their pharmaceuticals pricing agreement and demanded to renegotiate. This month, Big Pharma strikes back. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry claims that changes in the pricing scheme will cause big layoffs among drugmakers. And an industry poll showed that drugmakers expect U.K. conditions to deteriorate (83 percent) and that they plan to cut R&D investment, reduce spending on buildings and equipment, cut the number of clinical trials in the U.K., and reduce their level of manufacturing. Really. They will. Unless the government pays, they promise they absolutely will.

Of course the ABPI admits that Big Pharma already is in the midst of layoffs. Should we remind them that outsourcing and plant closures were already in the works, too?

- read the Telegraph article
- see the survey at Pharmalot
- get more in Forbes

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