Roche is wrapping up negotiations with payers in Italy, France and Spain and expects to have national reimbursement this year in all three countries, the company said. The eye injection is already widely available in the UK and Germany. Vabysmo won European marketing authorization in September of last year, but coverage via public insurance in continental countries generally requires an agreement about pricing.
Roche still aims to hit $2 billion in sales for Vabysmo this year, said Nilesh Mehta, the Basel-based drugmaker’s franchise head for ophthalmology. It’s a key part of Roche’s strategy for compensating the loss of its pandemic-era windfalls on the sale of Covid-19 tests and treatments. Already widely used in the US, the eye drug is also starting to see “really strong uptake” in other countries, Mehta said in an interview. He cited Switzerland and the UK, where drug advisory board NICE signed off on the product a week after approval there in May. “This really demonstrates to us that even in a situation where cost effectiveness is demanded of a product, they’re seeing the value of Vabysmo,” he said.
Roche declined to comment on the drug’s price in the UK. In Germany, generally Europe’s most expensive market for drugs, Vabysmo has a list price of €1,136.52 per vial, about 40% below the US list price.