Roche expects increase in drug prices

Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker outlined the consequences if Switzerland does not increase drug prices. Keystone-SDA

Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker has put pressure on the company to increase the prices of new medicines in Switzerland. The head of the pharmaceutical company outlined the consequences if Switzerland does not increase these prices.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

“Then, unfortunately, there will probably be further delays in the introduction of new medicines,” Schinecker said in an interview with the SonntagsZeitung newspaper on Sunday.

Switzerland has the most to gain and the most to lose, he said. The pharmaceutical industry’s tax revenues alone are higher than what is spent on innovative medicines in Switzerland, he said.

+ Roche and Novartis reach tariff agreement with US

If Switzerland does not follow the US reference system and does not increase the prices for new medicines accordingly, Roche will be able to invest less in cutting-edge research, according to Schinecker. This is because the group would generate less turnover. As a result, Roche would pay “less tax and create fewer jobs”.

Adapted from German by AI/ts

How we work 

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.  

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at [e-mail]