The Bottom Line

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BBC Radio 4 LW

Factual: Money

Evan Davis hosts the business conversation show with insights from the people at the top.

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The Bottom Line: Blockbuster drugs

09/11/2023

Blockbuster drugs

BBC Radio 4 - The Bottom Line, Blockbuster drugs

How to come up with a billion-dollar medicine, and who pays for it.

How to come up with a billion-dollar medicine, and who pays for it - Evan Davis and guests discuss the science, serendipity and price tags of major pharmaceutical products.

New medicines with sales in the billions of dollars each year are what every pharmaceutical company dreams of, but how do you create one and can they really justify their often high price tags?

Evan Davis and guests discuss the changing origins of so-called 'blockbusters' and their importance to the global drug industry, including recent examples like the obesity and diabetes treatments Wegovy and Ozempic, which have made Novo Nordisk one of the richest companies in Europe.

Plus, as outright cures for some diseases begin to emerge, how can the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare systems agree on what is a reasonable price to pay for them?

Evan is joined by:

Sir Patrick Vallance, former president of research and development at GSK, chief scientific advisor to the UK government, now chair of the Natural History Museum;
Ruth McKernan, venture partner at SV Health Investors;
David Brown, chairman and co-founder of Healx and co-creator of Viagra;
Natasha Loder, health editor, The Economist. 

PRODUCTION TEAM:

Producer: Simon Tulett
Editor: China Collins
Sound: Graham Puddifoot
Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman

(Picture: Rolls of dollar bills next to a bottle of pills. Credit: Getty Images)

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