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The influence of domestic manufacturing capabilities on biologic pricing in emerging economies

Nature Biotechnology volume 37, pages 498–501 (2019)Cite this article

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 01 November 2019

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To the Editor — Although unsustainable pricing of biologic drugs has generated considerable controversy in recent years, comparatively little discussion has centered on accessibility and affordability of innovative medicines in emerging nations. In general, the percentage of patients able to access innovative therapies is much lower in emerging economies than in developed countries; for example, percentage of patients with access to MabThera (rituximab) in Brazil is one-third that in the UK and one-sixth that in the United States, even though the population of Brazil is more than threefold that of the UK and only slightly smaller than that of the United States1. This discrepancy in access is particularly pronounced for biologic drugs; for example, only 20% of patients with autoimmune conditions in emerging markets have access to anti-tumor necrosis factor-α biologics. (Access varies from 29% in China to 12% in Russia and a mere 6% in Brazil.2) What factors lie behind access to biologics in emerging economies, and how are these related to affordability?

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Fig. 1: Affordability of biologics across various emerging economies.
Fig. 2: Average drug prices of various classes of biologics from 2007 to 2017 in emerging markets (India, China, Republic of Korea, Nigeria and South Africa).

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  • 01 November 2019

    An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

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  1. Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Department of Chemical Engineering, New Delhi, India

    Anurag S. Rathore & Faheem Shereef

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  1. Anurag S. Rathore
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Correspondence to Anurag S. Rathore.

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Rathore, A.S., Shereef, F. The influence of domestic manufacturing capabilities on biologic pricing in emerging economies. Nat Biotechnol 37, 498–501 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-019-0116-0

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