BMS says it will set Cobenfy's UK price the same as the US

The consequences of President Trump's actions on drug pricing continue to play out, with Bristol Myers Squibb insisting it will charge the same in the UK for new schizophrenia drug Cobenfy as in the US.

Cobenfy (xanomeline tartrate and trospium chloride) has a list price of around $1,850 per month in the US, equivalent to $22,500 per year. BMS's decision to reveal its pricing plans in the UK is unusual – particularly as the drug is not yet filed for approval in the UK – and suggests the company is firing a shot across the bows of reimbursement authority NICE early on.

BMS was one of 17 pharma companies that Trump reprimanded in a July letter over high prices for medicines in the US, part of an effort to introduce a most favoured nation (MFN) approach to drug pricing. The letter ordered the drugmakers to commit to not offering other "developed nations" better prices than the US.

Another company that received a letter, Eli Lilly, raised the price of its diabetes and obesity therapy Mounjaro (tirzepatide) in the UK in the wake of the letter, although that applied to out-of-pocket sales only and not prescriptions fulfilled by the NHS.

In a statement, BMS said the price offered to the UK will "reflect the value of this medicine for patients and society," but chief commercial officer Adam Lenkowsky went further in an interview with the Financial Times, saying: "We're asking the UK to step up in recognising the value of truly innovative therapies."

He added that the company would "walk away" if NICE "cannot recognise" Cobenfy's value. BMS is planning to file it with the UK regulator shortly, with an eye on a first-in-Europe approval and launch next year.

The strong rhetoric from BMS comes as the UK is facing a rebellion from big pharma groups over 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.

"Despite the UK's challenging commercial environment, we are committed to working with the NHS, NICE, and other authorities to make this medicine available to all eligible UK patients," said Guy Oliver, general manager of BMS UK.

"However, to enable us to achieve this goal, a new approach is needed," he added. "We therefore call on the government to collaborate with the life sciences sector to increase investment in new medicines and fully recognise the value that innovation brings to patients, society, and the UK's long-term prosperity."

Cobenfy was approved in the US last year as a monotherapy for people with schizophrenia, although, BMS's big sales aspirations for the drug were recently dented by a failed trial seeking to position it as an add-on to standard atypical antipsychotic medications.