We decided early on we did not want to follow the same pricing trends we’d been seeing. We wanted to make the best pricing decision we could for people living with multiple sclerosis and their families.
How We Priced our Breakthrough Medicine for Multiple Sclerosis
Our Approach to Pricing
Genentech has a long-standing pricing philosophy that is designed to strike a balance between ensuring patients have rapid, broad and sustainable access to our medicines, while at the same time preserving our ability to invest in future scientific innovations that drive the important medical breakthroughs that patients depend on.
This is why we take a long-term, thoughtful approach to pricing that involves several considerations, beyond the efficacy and safety profile of our medicines. In addition to the clinical benefit, which helps us begin to understand a medicine’s potential value for patients, providers, payers and the healthcare system, we seek to understand and evaluate how our medicine might be different from medicines currently being used, or if it will be the first treatment option available to patients.
We gather input from a range of stakeholders such as people living with a particular disease and their care partners, health care professionals, patient advocacy groups and professional societies as well as legislative and administration officials, to appropriately assess the medicine’s value and help ensure we price it right.
Our Actions
We are committed to ensuring price doesn’t prevent our medicines from getting to the people who need them.
Over the last decade, we’ve launched 18 groundbreaking medicines in areas of great need for innovation including multiple sclerosis, hemophilia, spinal muscular atrophy and different types of cancer and we’ve priced these medicines at or below (and in some cases significantly below) other available medicines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat the same disease.
As an industry leader we are mindful of our responsibility to help drive meaningful change to lower patient out-of-pocket costs and save government programs money, while at the same time maintaining scientific innovation. We believe innovative payment models, combined with robust market competition mechanisms, are the most appropriate, effective and sustainable ways to reduce costs — and we have long advocated for such reforms.
Accessing Our Medicines
Living with a serious illness can come with many challenges - accessing the medicine you are prescribed shouldn't be one of them.
As a company with a long history of pursuing ground-breaking science to bring innovative medicines to patients, we strive to ensure that anyone who is prescribed one of our potentially life-changing medicines can get it - regardless of their ability to pay - and we offer several important support services to assist patients with access.
Over the past 27 years, Genentech has helped more than 3.3 million people through patient assistance programs such as Genentech Access Solutions and the Genentech Patient Foundation.
-
290K people with access issues were helped by Genentech Access Solutions in 2023
-
51K eligible patients were provided free medicine by Genentech Patient Foundation in 2023
-
270K+ eligible patients were enrolled in Genentech Co-pay Assistance Programs in 2023
Learn how biomarker testing fits into our goal of personalizing treatment for every person with cancer.
Economic Sustainability in Cancer Care
We envision a future with better outcomes for patients at a lower cost to society.
Two Scientists Walk Into A Bar
Listen to our podcast, where researchers talk about their work answering the toughest questions in human biology.
Future Breakthroughs
At every step of the way, from research to pricing, Genentech puts patients first. We strive for the right balance between ensuring people can access, afford and benefit from the medicines they need, while investing in future scientific breakthroughs and therapeutic advancements.
-
25 new medicines launched over the last thirteen years
-
$14.7B invested globally in R&D in 2023
-
39 Breakthrough Therapy Designations granted since 2013 – among the most in the industry
In 2023, we invested $14.7 billion globally in research and development. As a result, we have brought 25 innovative new medicines to patients over the last thirteen years in areas such as cancer, neuroscience, respiratory and ophthalmology diseases, as well as devastating rare diseases like hemophilia and spinal muscular atrophy. Additionally, we continue to invest in significant and sustained research for each of our medicines even after they are approved.
As we look to the future, we remain dedicated to developing life-altering treatments that have the potential to profoundly change the lives of those affected by difficult-to-treat conditions such as cancer, autoimmune, cardiometabolic, and neurological diseases as well as retinal disorders.