At Novartis, we don’t just discover life-changing medicines, we're part of a broader effort to help ensure medicines reach the people who need them most, wherever they live, because the true value of innovation lies in its ability to improve lives.
Ensuring people everywhere can benefit from the latest medical breakthroughs is a shared global responsibility – one we care deeply about and work hard to uphold through our science, value and access initiatives, and government and community partnerships. Yet, this shared responsibility has grown out of balance, with a disproportionate burden placed on certain countries and even patients.
We believe developed countries should be investing in innovative medicines proportionate to their economy, to ensure access to the latest advances for their people today and to help fuel the continued development of the next wave of medical breakthroughs that can transform lives in the future. The US spends nearly twice as much per person on new treatments compared to countries like Germany, Italy, and Spain. That means Americans are carrying more of the weight when it comes to funding the future of medicine, and Europeans are left waiting for years to access new medicines.
We want to avoid a future where biopharmaceutical companies have to decide whether they can offer medicines in certain countries or regions. That goes against everything we stand for. Our aspiration is to launch with comparable prices for our medicines across high-income countries. Our goal is to ensure that all countries contribute fairly to the cost of innovation and patients everywhere benefit without delay.
That’s why we’re urging European countries to act now, with practical steps that improve patient access, boost economic growth and support a strong, sustainable biosciences sector.
We also fundamentally believe that US patients should have lower out-of-pocket medication costs. On average, half of every dollar spent on brand-name medicines goes to middlemen in the system that have played no role in developing or manufacturing these medicines. Pharmaceutical companies provide deep discounts and rebates to these middlemen as part of the traditional US healthcare system and, unfortunately, these discounts do not reach patients the way they should.
We’re working to change that. We’re exploring ways to offer our medicines directly to patients and even directly to employers, so people can get the care they need more affordably and without unnecessary roadblocks.
Our mission is simple: push the boundaries of science and ensure every breakthrough reaches those who need it fairly, affordably, and without delay because every patient deserves a future shaped by innovation.