Roche: have abandoned some trials due to U.S. drug pricing plans

[July 27, 2023]  FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Roche said it had abandoned certain drug development projects or acquisitions under consideration because of planned price cuts in best-selling prescription medicines in the United States.

Speaking in a media call after the release of first-half results, CEO Thomas Schinecker said the Swiss group was not taking the lead on any legal action against the U.S. government project under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), because other large drugmakers were much more severely affected, but its work on new drugs was impacted still.

"We have decided that we are not going to do certain trials, or that we are not going to do a merger or acquisition or licensing (deal) because it is becoming financially not viable," said Schinecker. He declined to elaborate.

The comments come after some drugmakers including Merck & Co and Bristol Myers Squibb have launched legal challenges against the U.S. government's plan to give Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices.

Pharmaceutical tablets and capsules are arranged in the shape of a U.S. dollar sign on a table in this picture illustration taken in Ljubljana August 20, 2014. REUTERS/Srdjan Zivulovic/File Photo

Schinecker said on Thursday the company would continue to monitor the situation.

(Reporting by Ludwig BurgerEditing by Miranda Murray and Josephine Mason)

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