Novartis CEO suggests that Trump tax cuts could boost US investment

Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez suggested Wednesday that US President-elect Donald Trump's plans to cut corporate tax rates could trigger increased investment in the country. "When we build a new manufacturing site we think about the tax rate, we think about the economy of the country, we think about jobs, so a booming US economy would make the US more attractive for investment," he said. 

The comments come after Trump recently accused pharmaceutical companies of "getting away with murder" on drug pricing and suggested they would be forced into a new bidding process to procure government business. Still, Jimenez said that "when you think about the healthcare sector and specifically pharma, we spend $70 billion in R&D in the US, and we account for about 4.5 million jobs as an industry...this President-elect is all about creating jobs in the US and I think this is a place where we can build and grow." He added that some of the incoming administration's proposed policies "that could reignite the economy in the US would be good for this industry and it would be good for jobs." 

The CEO also called for Trump to consider a replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which the President-elect is pushing to have immediately repealed. "What's important to us is that all Americans get access to important medicines," Jimenez remarked, adding "we want to make sure that if the ACA is repealed, that it is replaced with something that will ensure that these Americans still have access to the innovative medicines that we are able to launch." 

Meanwhile, Jimenez also said he expects continued pricing pressure in the US, but noted that Novartis was already transitioning towards value-based pricing. Last year, the company signed outcomes-based contracts with Cigna and Harvard Pilgrim for Entresto (sacubitril/valsartan). Jimenez indicated that while the product got off to slow start, there had been a "nice pick up in prescriptions" more recently, adding that Novartis will provide an update on prospects for the heart failure drug when it reports financial results on January 25.