MFN, TRADE AND TARIFFS: THE FUTURE OF PERSONALISED MEDICINE
Protecting innovation, diagnostics and equitable patient access
in a changing global environment
An evidence-led international conference examining how MFN drug-pricing policies, tariffs, localisation and trade realignment could affect personalised medicine, including innovation, launch sequencing, diagnostics, clinical research, manufacturing, supply chains and equitable patient access.
Event details
Event type
High-Level Political Lab, Congress-Side Session
Format
In-person
Audience
Ministers and government representatives; health, trade, finance and industry ministries; international organisations; regulators; HTA bodies and payers; clinicians and clinical-trial leaders; molecular diagnostics, pathology and genomics experts; pharmaceutical, biotechnology and technology companies; manufacturing and supply-chain specialists; economists, trade-law and transaction experts; patient organisations; and global-health and implementation partners.
Why this event matters
Personalised medicine depends on a globally interconnected ecosystem spanning medicines, biomarkers, companion diagnostics, laboratory inputs, clinical trials, data systems and specialist manufacturing. Changes in MFN pricing, tariffs, localisation and trade policy could therefore have consequences well beyond medicine prices, affecting innovation, launch sequencing, diagnostics, clinical research, manufacturing and equitable patient access.
Strategic frame
The event provides an evidence-led and balanced forum to examine how governments can pursue affordability, economic security and resilient supply chains while preserving the international ecosystem required to develop and deliver personalised medicines. It brings together health, trade and finance policymakers, payers, regulators, clinicians, patients, economists, diagnostics leaders, manufacturers and innovation partners to consider the full pathway from policy decision to patient outcome.
Core question
How can governments pursue affordability, trade security and supply-chain resilience without weakening the conditions required for personalised medicine to reach patients?
Agenda snapshot
Welcome and Opening Remarks
14:00–14:40
Opening remarks setting the context for the conference and its focus on the future of personalised medicine in a changing global trade and policy environment.
Policy Keynote – When Trade Policy Becomes Health Policy
14:40–15:30
Examining MFN pricing, international reference pricing, tariffs, trade agreements, localisation and onshoring as health-policy issues and their interaction across government sectors.
MFN Pricing: Affordability, Global Launch Strategies and Long-Term Patient Health
15:30–16:20
Exploring the potential effects of international price linkage on launch sequencing, lower-priced markets, R&D, new medicines and long-term patient health.
Coffee and Networking Break
16:20–16:45
Opportunity for participants to connect and exchange perspectives.
Trade, Tariffs, Manufacturing and Investment in Personalised Medicine
16:45–17:30
Examining the effects of tariffs, localisation and MFN-style pricing on manufacturing, investment, supply chains, diagnostics, clinical trials and cross-border partnerships.
Closing Policy Roundtable – Safeguards for Innovation and Equitable Access
17:30–18:15
Developing practical approaches to balance affordability, economic security and supply-chain resilience with innovation, international access and personalised-medicine infrastructure.
Conference Conclusions and Next Steps
18:15
Summary of key areas of agreement, evidence gaps and policy safeguards, forming the basis of the New York Principles on MFN, Trade and Personalised Medicine.
People and contributors
Denis Horgan
Join us at MFN, Trade & Tariffs: Personalised Medicine
23 September 2026 | 20:00 - 21:00
United Nations, 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, USA • North America
Interested in this event?
IPM Alliance welcomes engagement from policymakers, scientific experts, patient organisations, health-system leaders, industry partners and implementation actors.