Global pharmaceutical companies, facing pushback from European capitals on drug pricing, are turning to a playbook that brought them recent success in Britain: threats of pulling investment and expansion plans to pressure policymakers.

Germany Under Pressure

The latest target has been Germany, which is debating legislation to tighten spending on medicines. The industry notched a win in Britain when the government agreed to increase spending on medicines as part of a broader deal to avoid Washington-imposed tariffs.

Pfizer wrote last week to the German chancellor that its Germany investments were at risk over the drug-pricing policy, while AstraZeneca warned that it may not launch new medicines in Germany if the changes go ahead.

Earlier in June, Eli Lilly announced it would halve a planned 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) investment and even Germany-based Boehringer Ingelheim said it was scrapping expansion plans worth 900 million euros. Both cited the proposed legislation.

A Broader Tussle Over Drug Prices

The proposed legislation in Germany to cap rapidly growing costs in the statutory health insurance system has thrust the country into the centre of a broader tussle between drugmakers and European governments that began several months ago.

In France, the national health authority in April accused drugmakers of using “coercive pressure” to influence clinical assessments, including threats to withdraw medicines from the market.

That tension has been sharpened by the impact on Europe of U.S. President Donald Trump’s most-favored-nation pricing push, which aims to tie prescription medicine prices in the lucrative U.S. market to lower prices elsewhere, including in Europe.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.