Touting the efforts his administration already has taken to lower U.S. prescription drug prices through increased competition, President Donald Trump placed the burden for further action squarely on Congress during his State of the Union address Tuesday, Feb. 4.

New gene therapy treatments could add $45 billion to the cost of health care over the next five years, according to a new report from CVS Health Corp., of Woonsocket, R.I. While the number is staggering, without knowing the price of the currently unapproved therapies, how many patients will seek treatment and the likelihood of approval, the pharmacy benefit manager's estimate is basically an educated guess.

China announced Jan. 17 which further pharmaceutical companies it will buy from under its centralized procurement program that seeks the lowest prices. The price war has forced foreign players to revalue the Chinese market and prompted Chinese players to come up with survival strategies under a policy that aims to consolidate the industry.

As regular as clockwork, U.S. patients were hit with a spate of price hikes on prescription drugs last week – even as they were faced with once again having to meet their hefty annual deductibles.

For biopharma, 2019 can be described as a terrific year – with a few asterisks. The financial markets were flourishing, with venture capital dollars, in particular, flowing to the sector, while dealmaking reached historic proportions. Meanwhile, scientific breakthroughs led the way as cell and gene therapies gained ground, the first signs of success emerged with new technologies like CRISPR and the long-awaited promise of genomics found its way to the front lines of health care.

Throughout the year we have published the views of company executives, government regulators, industry analysts and scientists on a variety of topics and, in our popular annual feature, we include a selection of these that paints a picture of the significant events that shaped 2019.

MALAYSIA – Asian countries, like India, have been struggling to find a middle ground to the effective pricing of drugs and medical devices over the past year and several are looking at health technology assessment (HTA) programs as a solution for this issue in the coming year. Boston-headquartered consulting firm Analysis Group Inc. recently looked at how HTA programs in Japan, South Korea and China varied and what could be gleaned from their experiences.

BEIJING – China is aggressively pushing its goal to make drugs more affordable, and foreign pharma giants are adjusting their pricing strategy for a market that comprises nearly 20% of the world’s population and is expected to continue growing.  

LONDON – It’s no secret that American citizens pay the most for drugs, but the extent of the disparity is laid bare in a new index of the prices of 13 medicines in 50 countries worldwide.