A blog by Brian Cuffel, Vice President and Head of Oncology Market Access, Bayer

A WHO Technical Report on pricing of cancer medicines has raised questions for its unorthodox view of value-based pricing. The report is critical of what it sees as industry over-investment in cancer medicines R&D and what is portrayed as excessive return on investment.

For economists and others involved in policy discussion on drug price regulation, this is more than surprising. Not only is this thinking out of step with the wider trend towards value-based healthcare, it takes a selective view of pricing and builds its case on an assumption that the successes enjoyed by the oncology sector were entirely foreseeable 30 years ago. Of course, that’s not how it works.