LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - The CEO of Pfizer, one of the largest pharmaceutical firms in the United States, has said that the best way to make drug prices in the country more competitive is by initially increasing them.
Ian Read was speaking during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. He was responding to comments from president-elect Donald Trump last week in which he was highly critical of the industry and its price hikes.

"We need to pay more for medicine so we can develop more good medicine, so we can drive, through competition, lower costs," Read said at the WEF.

Trump said drug companies were "getting away with murder" in relation to the setting of drug prices during his first press conference as president-elect last week.

Companies like Pfizer, Valeant and Mylan have been criticised roundly by congressional oversight bodies for increasing prices of certain medicines by as much as 400%, with many pills only being made by one company.

"The pill is not the point," Read added, describing it as a "delivery mechanism for knowledge".

Read's stance on the issue could well bring him towards a conflict with Trump, who takes the Oval Office on Friday, as well as Congressional leaders in the near future.

The World Economic Forum is taking place in Davos, gathering some of the biggest names in the world related to business, finance and the global economy, including Chinese premier Xi Jinping.

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