The Three Pillars of Our Pricing Principles

Clear Rationale for Pricing

We commit to providing 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 the following factors:

A holistic assessment of value, including: 1) Clinical value and outcomes, or the benefit the medicine delivers to patients, and how well it works compared to a standard of care; 2) Economic value, or how the medicine reduces the need—and therefore costs—of other healthcare interventions; and 3) Social value, or how the medicine contributes to quality of life, and productivity. Our assessments rely on a range of internal and external methodologies, including health technology assessment (HTA) 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 payors and healthcare systems.

Unique launch factors specific to a medicine or vaccine at the time of launch. For example, we may need to support ongoing clinical trials to reinforce the value of our medicines (e.g., longer-term outcomes studies), implement important regulatory commitments, or develop sophisticated patient support tools that improve care management and help decrease the total cost of care.

Reporting of U.S. Pricing Actions

We acknowledge our role in preserving a sustainable healthcare system and in limiting our contribution to U.S. healthcare spending growth. Our approach to pricing our medicines responsibly balances:

  • 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;
  • Government policies; and
  • Evolving trends in the marketplace.

For any list price actions taken by Sanofi during the fiscal year (Jan. 1 to Dec. 31) on any of our medicines, the guiding principle is to adhere to a level that is consistent with our approach on responsible pricing.

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

The revised “Reporting of U.S. Pricing Actions” policy became effective as of January 1, 2023. Previous price increases were evaluated based on our policy originally established in 2016.

Continued Transparency in the U.S.

We commit to continued transparency in the U.S. around our pricing decisions.

Our principles reflect both a desire 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 U.S. list and net price changes from the prior calendar year. These data illustrate how the U.S. healthcare system impacts the way pricing changes accrue to manufacturers versus others in the healthcare delivery continuum. The data also highlight our discrete role in the U.S. healthcare system, i.e., what we as a maker of medicines can control. We believe this information contributes to better-informed discussions to improve 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 payors 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 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 payors, designed to offer the healthcare system 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.

Simply put, patients’ out-of-pocket costs depend on how their healthcare insurance coverage is structured and the extent to which their healthcare insurance coverage passes negotiated discounts to patients.

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