Prescription medicine pricing: our principles and perspectives

Pricing principles

Sanofi has a long-standing commitment to promote healthcare structures that make our treatments accessible and affordable to those who need them. We understand and share concerns about the affordability of medicines for patients while also recognizing that we are only one of many stakeholders involved in healthcare delivery.

To maintain an environment that will continue to bring new healthcare solutions to patients, we must encourage a transition to a value-driven healthcare system that provides incentives for the highest-quality care. This evolution will enable both affordable access to treatments and continued investment in medical innovation.

Sanofi is committed to helping address this challenge. While many factors, including decisions affecting patient out-of-pocket (OOP) spending and insurance coverage, are controlled by other stakeholders in the US healthcare delivery continuum, we believe we have a responsibility to be a leader in addressing issues of patient access and system sustainability. For our part, we price our medicines according to their value, while advancing broader solutions that improve patient outcomes and support affordability within the US healthcare system.

Pricing Principles Report

Our annual Pricing Principles Report provides transparency into how Sanofi is delivering on our promise of responsible pricing.

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The three pillars of our pricing principles

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Clear rationale for pricing

We commit to providing a clear rationale for pricing at the time of launch of a new medicine.

When we set the price of a new medicine, we hold ourselves to a rigorous and structured process that includes consultation with external stakeholders and considers these main factors:

A holistic assessment of value, including clinical value and outcomes, or the benefit the medicine delivers to patients, and its clinical profile compared with a standard of care; economic value, or how the medicine may reduce the need—and therefore costs—for other healthcare interventions; and social value, or how the medicine contributes to quality of life. Our assessments rely on a range of internal and external methodologies, including health technology assessment and other analyses that help define or quantify value and include patient perspectives and priorities.

Comparable treatment options available or anticipated at the time of launch, in order to understand the landscape within the disease areas in which the medicines or vaccines may be used.

System-wide affordability, including the steps we must take to promote access for patients and contribute to a more sustainable system for payers and healthcare organizations.

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Reporting of US pricing actions

We acknowledge our role in preserving a sustainable healthcare system and in limiting our contribution to US healthcare spending growth.

Our approach to pricing our medicines responsibly balances government policies and evolving trends in the marketplace with our ambition to chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives and ensure patients have access to the medicines they need now and in the future.

Sanofi will annually disclose additional background information if price actions trigger a prescription drug mandatory supplemental rebate under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

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Continued transparency in the United States

We commit to continued transparency in the United States around our pricing decisions.

Our principles reflect a desire both to help our stakeholders better understand our pricing decisions and to advance a more informed discussion of issues related to the pricing of medicines. To maintain an open dialogue and recognize calls for continued transparency in our pricing actions, we will annually disclose our average aggregate US list and net price changes from the prior calendar year.

These data illustrate how the US healthcare system impacts the way pricing changes accrue to manufacturers vs others in the healthcare delivery continuum. The data also highlight our discrete role in the US healthcare system, i.e., what we as a maker of medicines can control. We believe this information contributes to clearer communications that may lead to improved patient access and affordability.

While our efforts focus on securing affordable coverage of our medicines for patients, it is important to note that patient cost-sharing and coverage decisions are ultimately made by payers and employers, not manufacturers of the medicines.

While list prices often receive the most public attention, they do not reflect the price patients pay at the pharmacy counter, nor do they typically reflect the price Sanofi is paid for our medicines. List prices are also not the prices typically paid by the insurers, employers, or pharmacy benefit managers who purchase our medicines on behalf of patients in their respective health plans.

We negotiate discounts and rebates with payers, designed to offer lower prices in exchange for greater access and affordability for patients with insurance. List prices also fail to capture the substantial mandated discounts and rebates, sometimes required by law, provided to government programs, including those provided in Medicare Part D, Medicaid, and the 340B drug pricing programs.

Net prices are what Sanofi receives after discounts, rebates, and fees are paid to health plans and other parts of the healthcare system. Net prices also take into account copay expenses that help reduce patient prescription medicine costs.

Commitment to patient access and affordability of our medicines

Sanofi takes pride in developing new medicines and ensuring access for the patients who need them most. We have developed a suite of innovative, patient-informed programs to help reduce prescription medicine OOP costs for eligible patients.

Each of Sanofi’s programs is tailored to a specific population and we are continually listening to patients, advocates, and caregivers to better understand additional actions we can take to address ongoing or emerging challenges. Sanofi informs patients and providers about the availability of these programs through several mediums, and we continue to seek new ways to educate the public about their availability.

Every patient has unique circumstances, and Sanofi has live support specialists to answer individual patient questions and navigate their unique situations to find the best resources and programs for them.