Ovarian cancer drug to launch in UK at US price

AbbVie said on Monday that it will launch ovarian cancer drug Elahere in the UK at the same list price as in the US.

The announcement follows President Donald Trump’s push for drugmakers to align domestic prices with the lowest levels paid by comparable high-income countries under his “most-favoured-nation” policy.

The US currently pays nearly three times more for prescription medicines than other developed nations.

AbbVie is in talks with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the UK’s cost-effectiveness watchdog, to ensure the drug is valued fairly.

The company said these discussions will determine when Elahere is launched in the UK. AbbVie did not immediately respond to a request on pricing.

The move comes after Bristol Myers Squibb said last week it plans to introduce its schizophrenia drug Cobenfy in the UK next year at a price matching its US list price.

AbbVie was one of 17 drugmakers to receive letters from President Trump in July outlining how they should cut prices to match those paid overseas.

Unlike in the US, where market forces determine drug prices, European governments typically negotiate directly with companies to set prices for their health systems.

Elahere, available in the US since 2022, belongs to a new class of therapies called antibody-drug conjugates, sometimes referred to as “guided missile” drugs.

These treatments use antibodies to deliver chemotherapy directly to cancer cells with a specific protein on their surface, allowing for more precise treatment while reducing harm to healthy tissue.