MFN scheme is less onerous than expected

The Trump administration’s “most favored nation” drug-pricing plan is turning out to be much more generous to drug companies than its original description suggested. What began as a pledge to beat the lowest price in any industrial country has been watered down to a benchmark set at the second-lowest price among eight high-income countries.

The less burdensome MFN benchmark is good news for biopharma companies, but the policy is still likely to reduce revenues, especially for companies with a great deal of exposure to Medicaid. Additionally, industry’s fundamental concerns about allowing other countries to set U.S. price and blurring lines between pricing policies and FDA’s regulatory decisions remain. ...