Discovery in China, manufacturing in Korea,
price benchmarks set by the US

Until now — "we set our own price" 🇺🇸

Manufacturers set the US price and payers negotiated afterwards. What other countries paid had no direct effect on what the US paid.

GLOBE — "what do other countries pay?" 🌍

For Part B drugs, comparison countries' prices become the cost benchmark. A low price abroad can pull the US benchmark down, so where and when you launch starts to affect US revenue.

Novartis Bets Up to $7.8B on Abogen's mRNA "In-Body" T-Cell Engager for Autoimmune Disease

Fierce Biotech · Novartis (NYSE: NVS) × Abogen Biosciences | Oct 2, 2026

Key Facts

Novartis is paying China-based Abogen Biosciences $575 million upfront and up to $7.2 billion in milestones for global rights to ABO2203. The drug is an mRNA-encoded CD19xCD3 T-cell engager delivered in lipid nanoparticles, so the patient's own body makes the engager after injection. Its lead indication is immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), and it is also being tested in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The deal includes an option on Abogen's next-generation RNA platform, so Novartis is buying a way into a technology as well as one asset.

Plain-English Breakdown 🧩

CAR-T means taking a patient's cells out, engineering them and putting them back, with lymphodepleting chemotherapy and a hospital stay first. ABO2203 aims to deplete B cells with an injection, which could be given in an outpatient setting and possibly at lower cost. The timing stands out: Novartis recently paused an autoimmune CAR-T programme after three deaths (we covered it in #15), so this reads as a move to a lower-risk way into the same market. It's still early-stage, though, so efficacy and safety have yet to be proven.

📌 After pausing a CAR-T programme over deaths, Novartis has switched to a less frightening way into the same market. — Fierce Biotech summary

CMS Locks In "GLOBE," Bringing Most-Favored-Nation Pricing to Medicare Part B

Fierce Healthcare · CMS | Sep 30, 2026

Key Facts

CMS finalised the Global Benchmark for Efficient Drug Pricing (GLOBE) Model, which sets cost benchmarks for physician-administered Part B drugs using prices from economically comparable countries. It runs from January 1, 2027 to March 31, 2032 and covers about 25% of traditional Medicare beneficiaries in randomly selected regions. Patients there should see lower out-of-pocket coinsurance from April 1, 2027. After public comments, CMS excluded biosimilars, reference biologics once a biosimilar launches, orphan drugs, plasma-derived products and some cell and gene therapies.

Plain-English Breakdown 🧩

In plain terms, the US now formally prices against international benchmarks. If a company launches in a lower-priced market like the UK or Korea at a low price, that price can feed back into the US benchmark. So launch sequencing and list-price corridors stop being an ex-US sales question and become a US revenue decision. The exemptions also give orphan, biosimilar and advanced-therapy portfolios a clear advantage within Part B.

📌 Foreign prices now shape the US benchmark, so launch order has become revenue strategy. — Fierce Healthcare summary

Teva and Samsung Bioepis Expand Their Alliance with Six New Biosimilars

Fierce Pharma · Teva (NYSE: TEVA) × Samsung Bioepis | Oct 2, 2026

Key Facts

Teva and Korea's Samsung Bioepis agreed to co-develop and commercialise up to six biosimilar candidates; financial terms were not disclosed. Two candidates reference AstraZeneca's Fasenra and one references Novartis's Ilaris. Samsung Bioepis will handle development, regulatory work and manufacturing, while Teva commercialises in the US, Europe and Canada, with an option to add other territories. It is the third deal between the companies in 2026, after Epysqli (a Soliris biosimilar) in the US in January and Opuviz (an Eylea biosimilar) in Canada this summer.

Plain-English Breakdown 🧩

As major biologics lose patent protection from the late 2020s into the early 2030s, more biosimilar competition should lower prices for severe asthma and rare autoinflammatory diseases and widen access to them. What's interesting is that the split of roles is hardening: a Korean company develops and manufactures, a Western partner sells. It also fits Teva CEO Richard Francis's "Pivot to Growth" strategy, a big US commercial platform that partners for development rather than funding R&D itself.

📌 Korea builds, the West sells, and this year the pattern has now been set three times. — Fierce Pharma summary

🔎 Why this pattern

This week, who sits inside the price-benchmark zone decided the reaction: Teva rose on a partnership that adds to its growth story, Novartis stayed calm on a big deal, and Merck, with large Part B products, slipped. (All directional sketches — check a real chart for exact prices.)

🎯 Roles to Watch This Week

Teams worth watching based on this issue's news — not live job postings, so check each company's careers page for what's actually open.