AbbVie joins BMS in taking a hard line on UK drug pricing

For the second time in the space of a week, a big pharma group has served notice that it plans to charge the same price for one of its new medicines in the UK as it does in the US.

AbbVie suggested that it may not be able to launch its new ovarian cancer therapy Elahere (mirvetuximab soravtansine) for use by NHS patients if ongoing negotiations with reimbursement authority NICE do not result in a reasonable price for the drug.

That echoes an announcement by Bristol Myers Squibb last week, which has taken a similar stance with its new schizophrenia drug Cobenfy (xanomeline tartrate and trospium chloride).

Like BMS, AbbVie was one of 17 pharma companies that received a letter from US President Donald Trump ordering them to cut prices in the US to match those offered overseas or face consequences, asking for a response by 29th September.

The US administration is asking manufacturers to set medicine prices at the lowest price in an OECD country with a GDP per capita of at least 60% of the US GDP per capita. With the UK's drug prices acknowledged to be particularly low, the pressure is on to raise prices there, as well as reduce them in the US.

Elahere was approved in July by the UK medicines regulator, the MHRA, for the treatment of FRα-positive, platinum-resistant high-grade serous epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer patients who have received one to three prior systemic treatment regimens. The first-in-class antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) had previously also been cleared for this indication in the US and EU.

In a statement, AbbVie said it was in discussions with NICE "to ensure that ELAHERE, which will address a significant unmet need among women suffering from ovarian cancer, is valued fairly." The outcome of that negotiation "will determine the ability to launch in the UK."

Pharma companies have often intimated they could abandon the launch of new medicines in the UK due to low pricing in the past, but have rarely followed through on that threat.

The clear assertions from AbbVie and BMS mark a ramping up of that position, and come as the industry is incensed by a controversial system of rebates on medicines sales to the NHS, which has resulted in companies, including MSD, Eli Lilly, and AstraZeneca, abandoning investment programmes in the country.

"Scientific progress in treating ovarian cancer and other serious diseases requires a collaborative approach among all developed nations," said Jeff Stewart, AbbVie's chief commercial officer.

"Developed markets must recognise and support the value that innovative therapies bring to patients and societies to help ensure sustainable access and continued investment in medical innovation so that patients everywhere benefit from the next generation of therapies."

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