By Maggie Fick, Bhanvi Satija and Dominique Patton
LONDON/PARIS, March 31 (Reuters) – Drugmakers are delaying launches of some new medicines in Europe as the industry grapples with U.S. pressure and pricing policy shifts from President Donald Trump, according to executives, an industry trade group and data shared with Reuters.
The White House has been pushing to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the United States, which has traditionally paid significantly more than other wealthy countries. Trump says the industry has been unfair to U.S. consumers and has sought to tie the cost for Americans to what is paid elsewhere, including in Europe, known as most-favoured-nation pricing.
That has led drugmakers to press pause on bringing some medicines to European markets, where health spending is lower, to avoid pulling down prices in the $700 billion U.S. market. It has also created a complex balancing act for CEOs and Europe’s healthcare policy makers.
“We’re seeing first signs of delayed introductions into Europe,” said Stefan Oelrich, president of trade body the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations and a senior executive at Bayer.
He said it was “a consequence of uncertainty around what that ultimately does to U.S. pricing.”
New drug launches in Europe have fallen sharply since the U.S. introduced international reference pricing in May, according to market research firm GlobalData, echoing comments from industry executives and officials.
Drug launches in EU markets fell by some 35% in the 10 months since Trump’s executive order, compared with the previous 10 months, a GlobalData analysis found. Delaying launches at lower EU prices could help secure higher U.S. prices for longer.
In Europe, governments negotiate the prices paid by their national health systems, keeping costs down. The U.S. has a complex system in which drugmakers negotiate prices with insurers, pharmacy benefit managers and others, along with offering rebates and discounts from list prices.
TRUMP’S ARRIVAL HITS PHARMA STRATEGIES
Lionel Collet, head of France’s HAS health authority, said drugmakers were increasingly deferring decisions on France’s early-access pathway, which allows patients to receive some medicines before formal approval. Applications for early access before marketing approval have fallen sharply over the last year.
“The arrival of Trump has altered companies’ strategy of how they put products on the market,” he said, adding the number of HAS early-access decisions fell to 10 last year from 25 in 2024.
France is among Europe’s lowest-priced medicines markets, with prices around a third of the United States, he said. Prices in France and Germany tend to in turn affect how other European countries set prices.
“Manufacturers all talk to me about Trump, since the autumn. It’s all about the policy in the U.S. and what it means for Europe,” Collet said.
U.S. drugmaker Insmed said in February it postponed the Germany launch of its anti-inflammatory drug Brunspri due to uncertainty over U.S. pricing plans.
“We want clarity on the MFN policies,” CEO William Lewis said on an earnings call. “It seems to us that the prudent thing to do is to sort of put things on hold until we know what that’s going to look like.”
The drug won European approval in November but has yet to launch in the region. The company began selling it immediately in the U.S. after receiving FDA approval in August. Over 90% of drugs approved in 2025 first launched in the U.S., with most still not available elsewhere.
The European Commission was not immediately available for comment outside regular business hours.
NEW LAUNCHES LIKE ‘PLAYING CHESS’ WITH A BLINDFOLD
Executives at Swiss drugmakers Roche and Novartis and Britain’s AstraZeneca have in the last year criticized European drug pricing and incentives for innovation, calling for more spending.
AstraZeneca executive Ruud Dobber said Europe risked falling behind the U.S. and China because of governments’ approach to valuing medicines.
Europe spends some 1% of GDP on pharmaceuticals, compared with 2% in the United States and 1.8% in China. It has lost ground in research and development investment, clinical trials and launching of innovative therapies, according to lobby group EFPIA.
Some companies have even pulled their drugs from European markets. California-based Amgen withdrew its cholesterol drug Repatha from Denmark, citing prices and a “changed environment”, without directly citing MFN. Indivior pulled anti-addiction drugs Subutex and Suboxone from Sweden and other markets, also without directly citing U.S. pricing.
Boston-based healthcare lawyer Ron Lanton said the uncertainty around U.S. pricing benchmarks and enforcement was complicating things for companies with their investors.
“You have to tell your shareholders exactly how much money you expect to earn from this new launch. And none of that’s clear,” Lanton said. Launching drugs in Europe has stalled, he said, because it’s like “playing a game of chess” wearing a “blindfold”.
“I’m not surprised that things are going to be launched a lot slower,” he said.
(Reporting by Maggie Fick and Bhanvi Satija in London; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Bill Berkrot)
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