AstraZeneca Weighs Direct-To-Patient Drug Sales In US
Earlier this month, fellow European drugmaker Roche Holding AG said it was looking into direct sales to bypass players like pharmacy benefit managers.
(Source: AstraZeneca Pharma India website)
AstraZeneca Plc may sell some of its medicines directly to patients in the US, joining several other drugmakers that have plans to bypass middlemen or are considering them.
“We are absolutely considering this,” Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot said on a call with reporters after reporting better-than-expected sales and rising profit, spurred by growth in the US.
Not all treatments are suitable for online sales, according to Soriot. Drugs that are under consideration include medicines for diabetes and asthma. Those that are not appropriate include cancer and rare-disease drugs, he said.
Earlier this month, fellow European drugmaker Roche Holding AG said it was looking into direct sales to bypass players like pharmacy benefit managers. Other companies including Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S have started selling medicines via telehealth.
Soriot’s comments come as the pharma industry looks for ways to reduce prices for US patients without hitting their bottom line. President Donald Trump earlier this year signed an executive order calling on the industry to cut costs to the lowest level paid by similar countries. Part of the proposal instructed the US Department of Health and Human Services to help Americans directly buy their medicine at those lower prices.
Astra’s Soriot is increasingly looking to the US for growth, as the drugmaker seeks to both shore up manufacturing in the country and invest in US research. Astra will be self-sufficient there in a couple of months, Soriot said Tuesday, ensuring that tariffs have little impact.
Lambasting Europe
“Today very little innovation comes out of Europe,” he said, his latest jibe about Astra’s home continent. “Almost everything comes out of the US and rapidly now China as well.” Europe needs to ramp up its investment into pharmaceutical innovation if it wants the situation to change, he said.
Even so, Astra executives declined to comment on a report that said Soriot wants to move the company’s listing to the US.
In China, Astra is working to limit the fallout from damaging investigations that looked into issues around illegal drug imports. Potential fines look minimal so far, with Soriot still working closely with the government, including announcing a new R&D hub in Beijing.
Astra’s former China President Leon Wang is still detained, the company said Tuesday, but Wang’s replacement Iskra Reic has “helped stabilize the team,” Chief Financial Officer Aradhana Sarin said on the call.
