Industry weighs radical shake-up of European drug pricing

London

THE pharmaceutical industry is considering a radical shift in the way it prices drugs in Europe so companies are rewarded for the clinical benefit of treatments rather than the number of pills sold, according to an internal report.

The high price of drugs is straining Europe's cash-strapped health systems and depriving some patients of the latest products, to the concern of manufacturers who argue they can save costs in the long run by keeping people out of hospital.

As a result, companies are looking at a fundamentally different way of getting paid for their innovations, according to the internal report, a copy of wh…