Our Approach to Pricing, Access and Affordability

Why We Do What We Do

Innovative medicines are essential to effectively managing disease and containing long-term healthcare costs. Providing access to our medicines is an extension of Amgen's mission to serve patients, which starts with a responsible approach to pricing.

Our approach to pricing across the globe is underpinned by two core principles:

1. Pricing our products according to the value they deliver

We consider the impact our medicines can have across multiple factors, including:

  • Benefits to Patients and Society
    • Enabling patients to live longer, better lives with their disease or condition and reducing strain placed on caregivers of patients
  • Benefits to the Healthcare System
    • Reducing system spending by decreasing costly hospital visits, medical procedures, and long-term care needs by preventing severe events before they occur
  • Benefits to the Economy
    • Enabling patients to be more active and productive – at home and at work
    • Addressing diseases that pose a significant burden on the whole population and economy

2. Employing flexible pricing approaches to ensure patient access

We also consider the need to adapt to a complex external environment, the evolving science and the value our innovations bring to patients:

  • Needs of Patients and Local Health Systems
    • A balanced approach that takes into account the need for patient access to innovation, and the limited ability to pay in low and middle income countries
  • Continued Advances in Science
    • Flexibility as the science evolves across the product lifecycle, which may include new indications, dosing forms and evidence
  • General Market Dynamics
    • Price of appropriate comparator products, currently available treatment options and the extent of the benefit Amgen's treatment offers above and beyond the current standard of care

Patient Affordability in the U.S.

Amgen understands that the cost of prescription drugs is a concern for many people. For example, each year since 2018, the average net price for our medicines in the U.S. has declined.*

A medicine's list price is set by the manufacturer in the U.S.

Net price takes into account specific reductions in price, such as rebates and discounts.   

However, this downward trend has not resulted in lower costs for patients. For example, health plan benefit designs in the U.S. are often structured in a way that prevents patients from paying their cost sharing on the reduced net price of a prescription (to learn more, see here). 

To help ensure access for appropriate patients, we are working together with stakeholders throughout the healthcare system to overcome access challenges and improve care capabilities. Learn more here.

Our commitment to patients, science, and innovation motivates us to remove barriers that limit access to high-quality medicine and healthcare. Through our access to healthcare programs, we work with partners to expand access to our medicines and support efforts to strengthen healthcare systems to better serve patients in need worldwide.

*This content was updated as of August 2023 based on data through June 2022 reflected in the 2022 ESG Report.