What Did He Say? Elan CEO: Lower Prices
Time to do a double take. Kelly Martin is challenging big pharma to overhaul its business model by offering groundbreaking new treatments at a lower cost, which he says his company is likely to follow for its Alzheimers treatments.
“The psychology of the industry is that, if you are first, the price should be high,” Martin tells The Financial Times. “The economic structure is unsustainable. The tension will grow and something has to give.”
Referring to Elan’s treatments under development for Alzheimers disease - which are set for launch in about three years - he says there is a commercial advantage to building market share by offering lower-priced drugs over many years.
“We would consider using price as one of the parameters for strategically positioning this company for the long term,’ he says. “You need low and flexible infrastructure costs, but you can charge less if you continue to innovate.”
Please store his remarks somewhere so Elan’s actions can be compared with his words.
