What happens to pharmaceutical innovation when your competitive window shrinks from eight years to just three?
In this episode of Pharma minds, I speak with Marine Baxendell, CFO and co-fonder at xcube.bio, about a fundamental shift in the economics of pharma innovation.
Science is moving faster. Competition is accelerating. And at the same time, MFN pricing, healthcare budget pressures and increasingly complex market access are challenging the traditional model on both sides of the Atlantic.
An innovative treatment could once expect five to eight years before serious competition entered the same space. Today, Marine argues, that window can be closer to two or three years, even while the original molecule remains protected.
So what happens when the time available to capture the value of innovation gets shorter?
We explore:
◾️ Why the next wave of pharma innovation is structurally different
◾️ What MFN reveals about the limits of today’s pricing model
◾️ Why demonstrating patient value earlier is becoming critical
◾️ What is really slowing market access in Europe
◾️ Why being first to market may no longer be enough
◾️ And what a more sustainable model for pharma, payers and patients could look like
Marine’s perspective reframes MFN not simply as a threat, but as a signal that the rules of pharmaceutical innovation are changing.
This is episode #4 of Europe’s Access Dilemma: five perspectives on how Europe can make innovation affordable.
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👉 To find Marine Baxendell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marine-baxendell/
Resources mentioned in the episode:
📌 xcube.bio : https://xcube.bio/
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Chapters:
00:00 — The pharma innovation model is reaching its limits
01:32 — Why the next wave of pharma innovation is different
04:17 — Why the US and Europe pay for drugs differently
06:26 — Why patient value must shape clinical development
11:01 — What is really blocking patient access in Europe?
14:15 — Can small biotechs still launch in Europe?
16:55 — Is the current pharma pricing model sustainable?
22:01 — What could a better model look like?
27:30 — MFN: a threat or a signal for innovation?
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