Concerns about prescription drug prices have become a major political issue, with nearly one in four Americans saying it is difficult to afford their medications, according to a March 2019 poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Technically, pharmacies set their own prices for generic drugs, but other players are involved and complicate the process.
Johnson & Johnson, the largest pharmaceutical company in the United States by market capitalization, announced in November 2021 that it plans to spin off its consumer business into a new publicly traded company by November 2023. Analysts largely believe that This is a smart business decision, but it could also carry some risks.
At the same time, the U.S. approval of Biogen's Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm was hailed as a historic triumph in the fight against the memory-destroying disease. But so far, Biogen has reported only a fraction of Aduhelm's revenue meeting Wall Street's expectations. Patients and doctors are torn over the drug's murky clinical data and high price. Aduhelm's poor launch was costly, forcing Biogen to take steps to keep the drug afloat.
Covid-19 vaccine maker BioNTech had little recognition outside its hometown in Germany before the pandemic. More than a month and a half before the World Health Organization officially declared a pandemic, BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin met with his wife, Özlem Türeci, co-founder and chief medical officer of BioNTech, and together they agreed to redirect most of the company's resources toward developing a vaccine. The founders were confident in the potential of their mRNA technology, which they knew could trigger a powerful immune response. This confidence was not necessarily shared by the broader medical community. No mRNA vaccine or treatment has ever been approved before. But the couple's timely breakthrough actually took decades.
CNBC Marathon brings together the best of CNBC on YouTube.
Chapters:
00:00 Presentation
00:31 Why American pharmacies charge too much (Published August 2021)
4:35 p.m. The rise of BioNTech (Published in October 2021)
34:21 Why America's largest pharmaceutical company is breaking up (Published January 2022)
45:42 What is the controversy behind Biogen's Alzheimer's drug? (Published January 2022)
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Why pharmaceuticals are so complicated in the CNBC American marathon
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