Hannah Kuhler reports from London
U.S. drugmakers AbbVie and Eli Lilly have become the first pharmaceutical groups to pull out of a pricing agreement with the British government in protest of a sharp increase in the UK’s levy on brand-name drugs.
Lilly, known for its diabetes drugs, said the levy – now accounting for more than a quarter of the pharmaceutical industry’s UK revenue – had a “punitive” effect on innovation and left the UK behind other major countries. AbbVie, maker of Humira, one of the world’s best-selling drugs, has warned that the levy mechanism is affecting its ability to operate in the UK. <...
