US drug pricing policies will have global impacts on innovation and access
The knowledge generated through biomedical innovation is a public good. One person’s use does not reduce its availability to others. To incentivise private R&D investment, innovation is protected by intellectual property rights in the form of patents, during which time prices are regulated to balance incentives and access.
Although pricing and reimbursement policies are set nationally, their impact can be global. This creates tension between short-term, country-level pricing strategies and the long-term global incentives needed to sustain innovation.
In this interconnected context, national pricing policies impact global access, health system sustainability, and innovation incentives. These issues were central to the ISPOR 2025 Plenary, where OHE Chief Executive Graham Cookson spoke about the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and President Trump’s proposed Most Favoured Nation (MFN) policy.
We also explored the potential implications of an MFN policy on innovation and access in one of our Insights last month, and we continue to monitor
the global effects of the IRA.
As U.S., European and global policy continue to evolve, OHE remains committed to contributing to this critical debate through evidence-based research.
