US insurers step up discount war against Big Pharma

San Francisco

THE world's biggest drugmakers face a new reality when it comes to US pricing for their products as insurers use aggressive tactics to extract steep price discounts, even for the newest medications.

Big Pharma executives acknowledged the depth of change last week during public presentations and interviews with Reuters at the JP Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco. Drugmakers have long relied on their ability to charge whatever they deemed appropriate in the US, the world's most expensive healthcare system.