Switzerland’s planned medicines-pricing reforms are being reconsidered against evidence that US most-favoured-nation pricing may already be changing company launch behaviour. A parliamentary health committee has now asked the government to redesign most of the proposed reforms so that they remain compatible with the US reference-price system and preserve access to new therapies.
The National Council Social Security and Health Committee (Kommission für soziale Sicherheit und Gesundheit des Nationalrates, SGK-N) voted 16–9 on 21 August to recommend delaying most ordinance changes implementing the pharmaceutical provisions of Cost-Containment Package 2. These include volume rebates for high-turnover medicines and a broader revision of medicine price-setting.
SGK-N said the international environment had changed substantially since Parliament adopted the legislation. It wants the proposals fundamentally revised after the government’s Life Sciences Location working group reports at the end of 2026, with renewed stakeholder involvement. The committee recommends proceeding separately with measures protecting supply of low-priced generics and other off-patent medicines.
Eight days earlier, the Association of Switzerland’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Industry, Interpharma, reported the first quantified evidence of changed company behaviour. In an anonymised member survey covering January 2025 to June 2026, companies attributed seven of 22 decisions not to seek Specialities List reimbursement to US MFN considerations. Interpharma also reported three cases in which Swissmedic approval was not sought.
The findings have not been independently verified by the Federal Office of Public Health and should be treated as industry survey evidence. The mechanism, however, is clear. Switzerland is a US reference market, so a comparatively low Swiss price can affect the much larger US commercial opportunity.
The survey and committee decision are separate developments, but together they show US MFN moving from a prospective international-pricing risk into Swiss launch strategy and domestic pricing-policy design.
Source: Swiss Federal Assembly
Link: Elektronisches Gesundheitsdossier: Geordneten Übergang vom EPD zu E-GD sicherstellen (Electronic health record: ensure an orderly transition from the EPR to the EHR)
Date: 21 August 2026
Source: Interpharma
Link: Medienmitteilung: Zugang zu innovativen Medikamenten unter Druck: Jedes dritte neue innovative Arzneimittel wird nicht zur Vergütung durch die Krankenkassen eingereicht (Press release: access to innovative medicines under pressure: one in three new innovative medicines is not submitted for reimbursement by health insurers)
Date: 13 August 2026
Source: Federal Office of Public Health
Link: Umsetzung des Kostendämpfungspakets 2: Eröffnung der Vernehmlassung zum Arzneimittelbereich(Implementation of Cost-Containment Package 2: opening of consultation on medicines)
Date: 19 February 2026
