FT Summit: How Is U.S. Policy Reshaping the UK and EU Pharma Landscapes?

For the Financial Times (FT) Global Pharma & Biotech Summit in London 2025, pharmaphorum is providing coverage courtesy of NAVLIN Daily, a pricing and market access insights report from EVERSANA (pharmaphorum's parent company). You can see the original post, along with more Market Access news, at NAVLIN Daily.

NAVLIN Brief

• Industry leaders met at the FT Global Pharma and Biotech Summit in London to discuss dramatically changing policies on both sides of the Atlantic, from Europe’s new pharmaceutical strategy to the U.S.' Most Favored Nation (MFN) pricing
• While the room was packed out with senior industry representatives and payers who all harbor thoughts on these topics, those on stage kept their cards close to their chests
• Read on to learn NAVLIN Daily’s learnings from the first day of the Summit

The Details

LONDON, United Kingdom – Pharma companies are up against changing policies that threaten to upend the balance of healthcare spending between the U.S. and Europe as we know it.

The Financial Times’ (FT) Global Pharma and Biotech Summit comes at an interesting juncture for the pharma industry; there is so much shifting in parallel - the new pharmaceutical strategy for Europe, delays to the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access, and Growth (VPAG), the Trump Administration’s Most Favored Nation (MFN) pricing to name a few – that we can no longer afford to think about country policy in siloes.

While the room was packed out with senior industry representatives and payers who all harbor thoughts on these topics, those on stage kept their cards close to their chests. Despite direct questions from FT Global Pharmaceutical Editor and moderator Hannah Kuchler such as, “Will companies pull out of the VPAG?” speakers said little more than, “each company will make a decision on their own merit.” Polished answers led to few learnings, but it’s understandable when everyone in the room is hanging on your every move to see how they should be reacting.

Patrik Jonsson, Executive Vice President and President, Lilly International, spoke on the first panel of the day. Eli Lilly recently became the first company to publicly increase the price of a product (Mounjaro, no less) in the United Kingdom (UK), and confirmed that it was driven by the push for MFN pricing in the U.S.

During the panel, Jonsson encouraged policymakers and governments outside the U.S. to “Do what you think best for the citizens in your country and for your economy. Do not just do it to comply with a request from the U.S. administration.” When asked if Lilly plans on leaving the VPAG to enter the Statutory Scheme, Jonsson explained, “We are internally debating how best to move forward,” confirming he (obviously) wouldn’t make that announcement today in public.

Speaking about the recent MFN deal with the White House, he said the company is “eager to have those discussions with governments everywhere. How can we improve access, but also ensure we’re preserving pro-innovation policies?”

A pro-innovation policy is what the UK really lacks right now. Just yesterday, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) called on the Treasury and the Department of Health to "work together to create the right conditions for investment in innovation,” to try and reverse the “decade-long decline in the UK’s life sciences sector.”

One of the companies feeling the direct effect of the UK’s lackluster life sciences environment is MSD, which recently chose to halt research operations in London, citing the UK’s “lack of investment in the life science industry and the overall undervaluation of innovative medicines and vaccines.” The company will instead relocate its research activities to existing sites, primarily in the U.S., which it has been investing in heavily amid persistent tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Louise Houson, Regional President, Core Europe and Canada at MSD, also spoke alongside Jonsson at the FT Summit. Houson was asked if, hypothetically, the VPAG scenario were resolved and the UK’s quality-adjusted life years (QALY) threshold increased, would MSD consider reversing its decision? After giving the “short answer — no,” she elaborated: “We’ve made our decision. The commercial environment in the UK was part of that decision, but not the only factor.”

However, she does see a “real opportunity for Europe to demonstrate that it’s open for innovation and create the right ecosystem for business. I think, however, they’ve been slow to respond, and there really is a need now to accelerate that pace of change, to make sure that there is appropriate spend on pharmaceuticals.”

As Houson notes, “none of this is new news.” The industry has been raising similar issues for years, about R&D investment across the globe being unequally funded. She added, “The shame for me is it’s taken the U.S. administration to raise it, rather than listening to industry.”

Never before has there been a time when U.S. decisions and policies have held such a direct impact on the UK drug pricing environment. There is already evidence of companies launching at a price in the UK that is more in line with the U.S., in order to comply with MFN pricing. BMS will launch its schizophrenia drug, Cobenfy (xanomeline/trospium chloride), in the UK next year at approximately $22,500 annually (~£16,614)—the same price as in the U.S.

AbbVie has announced it will make a similar move with its ovarian cancer treatment Elahere (mirvetuximab soravtansine), matching its U.S. price of $6,487 per 100mL vial when launching in the UK.

As one attendee on the roaming mic put it, “we’ve essentially seconded domestic UK drug pricing policy to bilateral trade agreement with the Americans.” While that may not be entirely accurate, it is crucial to be aware of the goings-on across the pond between the Administration and pharma companies. In a keynote interview at the event, Teresa Graham, CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals, confirmed that the company has been “in conversations with the White House for the duration of this administration,” but offered little further insight into the relationship.

NAVLIN will be back in the room, reporting on keynote interviews with NICE CEO Sam Roberts, MHRA CEO Lawrence Tallon, and more.