Pricing

When setting the price of a medicine, we take into consideration its full value to patients, to those who pay for healthcare and to society in general.

Our pricing also takes account of the fact that, as a publicly owned company, we have a duty to ensure that we continue to deliver a return on investment for our shareholders. We balance many different factors, including ensuring appropriate patient access, in our global pricing policy, which provides the framework for optimising the profitability of our products in a sustainable way.

We continually review our range of medicines (both those on the market and in the pipeline) to identify any that may be regarded as particularly critical to meeting healthcare needs – either because they treat diseases that are (or are becoming) prevalent in developing countries, or because they are potentially a leading or unique therapy addressing an unmet need and offering significant patient benefit in treating a serious or life-threatening condition. In such cases, we aim to provide patient access to these medicines through expanded patient access programmes. We also support the concept of differential pricing in this context, provided that safeguards are in place to ensure that differentially priced products are not diverted from patients who need them, to be sold and used in more affluent markets.

The content of this page was externally assured by Bureau Veritas, February 2009.