Most companies make pricing an after thought.

Most companies also are never able to use pricing as the superpower it actually is.  

I have had the privilege of overseeing revenue management for over $6 billion in revenue across a diverse range of industries during the past decade. Throughout this experience, I've gained a deep understanding of the critical role that pricing plays in business success. 

I'm passionate about sharing my expertise and insights to help organizations harness the power of pricing strategies to improve profitability and overall performance.

Karan Sood

I can't teach you pricing in a day or week, or a month. 
There is a reason I no longer offer a monthly membership. 

None of the things that matter in pricing can be learnt in days or weeks. 

It took me: 
- 5 years to move off cost based pricing

- 10 years to learn building reputation with sales

- 15 to likely learn that  I am not even in the pricing business

- 17+ to learn what truly generates growth in pricing people

These things were learnt over the years, not in weeks or months. A lot came not from any text book, or linkedin post, but from test and learn and working with other professionals. 
 

A lot came through working with execs, learning how to really speak their language, going on hundreds of sales calls..


There is a reason I am bullish about PricingTribe and the way we run it. For all the above reason I know in the age of AI where content is dime a dozen, a place for connection with peers will be sought after. 


We discuss deeply, frequently and more broadly. We are way beyond what we would discuss and say in public. 


That's why I think PricingTribe will be the marquee place for all pricing professionals ! If you haven't check it out, you should. 

Apply on website: pricingtribe.com

#PricingTribe.

Join the best private community for all pricing professionals ! Apply on website !

I am going to keep reminding pricing people ! 
You need to be expert in pricing, but generalist in nature. 


Your pricing skills matter, but your other skills matter just as much.



1) Core Skill - Pricing: This is your foundation.

You need breadth across pricing models AND depth in how pricing actually works across industries. It’s not enough to just know one space. You need to be open to learning from other industries. SAAS can learn a thing from manufacturing and they can learn a thing from services.. 

Your pricing instinct comes from multi model knowledge - not just the one in your company. Talk to people outside of your core.



2) Essential Skills - Finance + Industry +AI

Finance is non-negotiable. If you don’t know what’s inside a P&L, you should start now. You should be able to understand:

AR
BOM
payment terms
reserves
accruals
margin math contribution vs. gross…
P&L management is essential. 

Industry knowledge is the other essential. Knowing the market, competitors, and the value chain. It will let you speak with authority in any room. Pick up a basic book like "Financial Intelligence". Easy !

I don't want to talk about AI, you know that's an essential skill now to ingrain into your processes, workflows, analysis. 

3) Preferred - Soft Skills:

This is where careers are made. You need to grow your Influence and be better at executive communication. 

Executive communication upwards
Framing difficult conversations.
Reading a room full of execs. 
Know when to be firm and flexible.

You need to stand up for yourself sometimes too, you may go against the grain. But it's okay it builds your character. 


4) Desirable - Cross-Functional Knowledge

This is your long-tail advantage. Know other areas of the business like:

IT
Sales and Marketing
Operations
Contracts
Supply chain
Commercial terms
Basic legal understanding


You don’t need to master everything, but knowing how things actually work makes you a far more strategic partner.


Develop this skill set and your impact becomes impossible to ignore.


If you made it this far, please: 

👍🏼Like it or 
♻️share it with everyone
✉️ Send it to a peer.
💾 Save it for yours

This is the bedrock of everything inside #PricingTribe group if that's of interest.

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Building pricing credibility is hard. 

And I mean deep credibility where people will rely your POV consistently, where people will move meetings for your POV or wait for you to come back from vacation to get your POV or just shelf a decision because you are busy. That level of credibility is hard hard hard stuff. It comes at a cost too. 


It takes years to build. Years, not months, not weeks, not days. And, you could work on it for years, and have it derailed in one quarter or worse in one meeting. I've been there, likely you too.


I have been thinking of a hierarchy of things I think pricing professionals need to master to build that credibility. Consider it a working draft. 


You could apply this framework at any level, but it does lend itself to mid to senior professionals more. 

It starts at the bottom with commercial understanding, you need to know the business better than most people. This goes a long way in establishing yourself as a business knowledge powerhouse. That builds credibility, that comes from having your ear in several functions with healthy relationships with business or area heads. 


Measure your impact your majesty ! Big or small ! These small wins go unnoticed but when put together could build a lot of trust. Document it, track it, revise it and blow it up on the slide occasionally. 


Systems: Everytime I missed a growth opty in my career it was because my systems or processes were not in place. I was too ad-hoc of a margin slinger while someone with less skill had better systems and went ahead. Systems will eat adhoc processed for breakfast anyday. Build your systems sir !!!! 


You need consistency in how you present to the exec. You have to nail the format, the message in the way they like, understand and approve decisions. If you bring a different date every time, side eye is all you'll get from them. (I am kinda proud of this non AI reference I made, please tell me you read this far). 


And, lasting credibility will come with clear ownership of decisions. Where you own, the win and the loss. And are the sole owner of pricing decisions. This is a big reason I am not a fan of pricing committee's. Pricing has one owner, who can present find to the exec committee or product or whosoever. You add too many cooks, you'll spoil the broth mama said...


Will expand on this soon in #PricingTribe...


PS: It's 6:30 AM and don't let down by the Beatles playing in the background. The version where they play their last concert together in a 42 mins set on a rooftop. Not sure why I told you this, but felt like it ! Beatles are my favourite.

Apply for our membership: pricingtribe.com

You were warned. 
Back in 2023 I posted this note on why Spotify was massively under monetized and it was leaving money by not changing price fast enough with value. 


The post went viral and I was roasted by everyone media people, marketing people, execs, coaches, teachers and janitors and even 2023 AI experts !! 


90 comments and mostly people disagreed that Spotify had any pricing power,  because replacement was easy. There was no differentiation. 

There was no value add like Netflix which constantly adds new value.


Fast forward 3 years, and Spotify has increased price every year 2024, 2025 and now 2026. The old 9.99 is 12.99. The change is probably most of its annual profit by now. 


Those same people who commented, now pay 30% higher while their value extraction from the platform has rarely changed. 


Not sure why I am bringing this up. Maybe because it goes to say why pricing power is underestimated and not well understood. 

#PricingTribe community ! We are live !

Toying with an idea of a podcast ? 

Thinking of interviewing Sr. Pricing/Finance and Strategy leaders.

Would you want to listen ?

I feel real audio in a world of AI will be valuable. 

Who would you want me to interview ?

I love talking. I want to do more talking and writing. 
 
I love #PricingTribe !!

Can we adopt the term 'Pricers'. 
I am a bit tired of telling people I am an art and science expert in Excel. 

or that we are finance, just more balanced towards org goals.. 

WTH even is a role that sits at the intersection of finance, marketing, strategy and sales ? I know that's what you tell people. 


Just like marketing has marketers. No marketer goes out and says I sit at the intersection of demand and supply by helping people convert to customers... 


The dictionary literally says 'Pricer: A person who prices things and puts price tags on them'... 


Can we pretty please ? 
Who do I have to convince ?

Pricing people: In a world of AI slop, be careful of what you read and spend time on.


The world of AI content is centering towards the average, and you are not average and neither is your time. Please value it accordingly. 


This is the big reason I have pivoted from writing too much on linkedin or long form articles to more peer to peer connection and to video. It just feels more authentic in this new world.


Remember….Real learning will always happen by doing, by testing, by asking questions, by failing, by mentoring, by shadowing, by reverse engineering, by taking a L sometimes, and a win other times and by peer support and networking..


That’s it ! 
#PricingTribe

Pricing is not easy. 
But #PricingTribe is making it easier.

To be successful automate yourself out of a job. 
That's a kind of north star metric that drives more success.

PricingTribe invited Megan Smith who has ran deal desk for Hubspot, Dropbox and Linkedin for a Deal Desk: Design and Setup workshop. 


Here were the key takeaways for you: 


- Setup processes and automate yourself out of a job. That should be your core objective. 

- Deal desks work because humans require human touch on deals. It can be through negotiation on discounts, terms, builds etc. 

- Deal Desk should have clear authority: “up to X discount / down to Y margin", anything outside is an escalation path. 

- Create an “easy way vs hard way” path for sales. Easy way is fast with higher success, hard way is escalations, and is slow and doesn't guarantee success. 

- Reward reps who bring complete context (faster SLA, advocacy).

- Measure what matters: time-to-close (DD deals), win rate (directional), ACV/margin impact, and attach rate (low overall, high on big deals


Here is a valuable clip from that #PricingTribe workshop. 


Posting for the : 7:45 Algo gods. While listening to "Sound of the silence: Live in central Park" where paul simon got 600K people to come in. I don't even have that many impressions all month...let me know if you read so far !!

Price increases rarely fail because of the price.
Last week’s 1Password pricing episode is a good reminder of that.


They didn't change price for 10 years and then raised them by 33%, the backlash was swift and cruel. 


Within days:

- Reddit threads exploded with complaints
- Users posted cancellation notices
- Competitors started advertising against the increase
- Discounts started appearing to calm the backlash


So here are the TLDR learnings: 

- Don’t wait 10 years to change price
- Segmentation matters more than most teams realize
- Features <> value communication (excels fans)
- Every word in price communication matters
- Always prepare for backlash

I wrote all about it in today's newsletter ! 

https://lnkd.in/ghj-JeKw

Price increases rarely fail because of the price, they fail because of the execution around the price.

What's the hardest part of executing a price change ?

I have in good faith from my 7 year old daughter that I can live with her when she get older, even with her kids. She wrote it down and we circulated it inside the house. Wife's okay with it. She knew this day would come from DAY 1. 


We also started a LinkedIn page for PricingTribe (real big boy pants). We also have one follower, that's me. You can be the 2nd if you want. 


Tomorrow I write a long post about the most recent major pricing blunder in recent history !! So bad, it makes me feel bad for the pricing team involved. 


It's 7 am EST. They say good stuff only happens after 8:30 am, but by that time I will be running kitchen !! 


So please go ahead scroll past me or not, your choice ! But I don't care anymore, I am going to live with my daughter !

PricingTribe

Pricing lesson for everyone ! 
Strait of Hormuz closed: 30% of oil gets choked

Less oil = Expensive Oil (Especially Asia)

Expensive Oil = More expensive manufacturing

More expensive Manufacturing = Higher cost

Expensive Oil= Equally expensive freight 

Higher Cost + Higher Freight = Higher Prices

Higher Prices = Less Demand

Less Demand = Less Profit

Less profit = Slowdown in economy

For pricing professionals this will be a time of re-thinking strategies again.

Is Discount a form of value ? 
Discount is a necessary evil, if anyone told you otherwise including some big pricing consultant be very cautious. 


I have been a pricer, a seller and a buyer on multi million dollar deals ! And I can tell you none of those million dollar deals I sat on would have happened without some form of discount. For a lot deals it was a mental barrier in the seller's mind. They won't sign without the perception of a deal. 

- The business owner expects it
- The procurement person expects it
- The exec sponsoring  the deal expects it
- The finance team thinks its their birthright ! 

In fact if you as a pricing team are not providing sales a discount range to negotiate within a cost framework and empower them, then you are losing a big credibility lever for  yourself in the org, and your growth will suffer. Trust me bro, I know.. I have scars to show ! 

So this is a very interesting take from Ed Arnold's session inside PricingTribe on value communication in pricing. He has a hard stance that discount is a form of value !! I tend to agree... 

#PricingTribe.

Can someone please explain what I do to my wife ? 

Reetika Negi has a hard time understanding what I do !! 
She thinks I have some weird obsession with pricing. 

Her words: You write status messages about pricing ? 

Is she right ? Am I status message junkie ?


If my work meant anything to you. Please comment and tell her what I do. Tell her our PricingTribe is a real deal !!! We are for real community, with bells and whistles !!  

-------------
PS: She is the reason I am able to do this, so she might as well know !

Procurement Delivery Manager at Roche

Jay Odedra is the real deal ! #PricingTribe Go work for Jay.

Pricing, Packaging and Monetization Leader

One of the things I love most about working here is the level of collaboration and the trust to make real impact. We’re hiring a Director of Pricing Strategy to help set our direction in a fast‑growing industry — if this sounds like you (or someone you know), check out the role below 👇

Campbell, California, United States (Remote)

Ed arnold is a leading authority on customer value validation.

We at #PricingTribe were lucky enough to host him at our monthly members hangout !

Amazing session. We talked about what does it take to change a value model from pricing team into a value model that is owned by the customer.

The whole premise of customer value validation is to just surface the 3-4 drivers of value to the customer and filter out the noise !!

Thanks Ed Arnold , you have been too kind to the community !! Hope to see more of you.

I can’t stop thinking about the ‘Magic Trick’ value argument. That’s a great way to position value models.

#PricingTribe

I quantify the value that products deliver to customers.

Last week I met up with the good folks at the Pricing Tribe to talk about how I validate customer value. Great discussion!

Here are highlights.
https://lnkd.in/e8fFcTuG

Karan Sood Denise Gangi Jared Smith, Ph.D. Simon Lamb Cam Hartwick Rea Stamatoulakis Olga Bobikina, MBA, MS, BA

Open article: Why It’s Important to Validate Customer Value by edarnold1.substack.com

Why It’s Important to Validate Customer Value

When you have no discounting controls.

Employee creates 100% discount codes and walks away bunch of free shoes ! 

Honestly I am surprised it doesn’t happen more often given what I have seen in discount code control.

If you just starting your pricing career, this is great starting role !! Work for Valerie and James !! Great team and managers !

I’m hiring for a Junior Pricing Analyst.

I’m looking for someone who is organized, detail-oriented, analytically curious, and strong at keeping work moving across teams.
This is not just a spreadsheet role. It’s a chance to build experience across pricing, systems, dashboards, process management, and cross-functional execution.

Core strengths I’m looking for:
Loves clean process, deadlines, and operational follow-through
Comfortable managing workflows and keeping tools like Asana accurate and up to date
Strong basic Excel skills: XLOOKUP, pivot tables, formulas
Able to work carefully in systems and manage things like price book setups without creating downstream issues
Has the judgment to spot something unusual in the data and raise the right questions
Understands key pricing fundamentals like gross margin, discounting, net price, win rate, churn, and elasticity

Helpful experience:
Power BI, Tableau, or Looker
SQL exposure
HubSpot reporting
CPQ/CRM tools such as Salesforce, NetSuite, Dynamics, HubSpot, or quoting platforms
Pricing admin workflows such as discount approvals, contracting, and price book maintenance

In this role, you would:
Own Asana board hygiene and workflow tracking
Maintain pricing dashboards and reporting routines
Set up new products in our CPQ tool
Partner across Sales Ops, Finance, Product, Legal, Billing, Marketing, Sales, and Systems Administration
Conduct product market research
Support key pricing and administrative processes

This role is ideal for someone early in their career who wants to learn fast, contribute immediately, and build real pricing and commercial operations experience.

Know someone strong? Tag them or send them my way. https://lnkd.in/gphnVdfB

Why did Clay grandfather everyone ? 

I don't think clay understands the future drawback of two tier system.

At Alira Health, I design pricing strategies that balance affordability, innovation, and environmental responsibility. From WHO Essential Drug List submissions to the Equity Pricing Framework (EPF), my work ensures that medicines reach the patients who need them without compromising sustainability or innovation.
If you're working to improve health equity, sustainability, or patient access, let’s connect!

Nerea Catalina

Do women really help other women?

I’ve been sitting with this uncomfortable question since I started to prepare my post for women's day 2026.

Are we truly wired to lift each other up or have we been conditioned to compete for the same limited seat at the table?

In boardrooms, in hospitals, in academia, in industry I’ve seen both.
Powerful sponsorship.
Silent rivalry.
Public praise.
Private undermining.

The reality is this: when systems create scarcity, competition follows. And for decades, many women have been navigating environments where space at the top felt limited.

But we have a choice.

Supporting other women is not a slogan. It’s action.
Recommending her for the role.
Amplifying her voice in the meeting.
Giving credit, especially when she’s not in the room.
Mentoring without insecurity.

As a member of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA), I’m actively trying to live this commitment by building networks, opening doors, and creating space where there wasn’t any before.

The pictures in this post were taken during the EPA Congress moments of connection, exchange, and real solidarity. 

Proof that when we show up for each other, powerful things happen.

So here’s my challenge for 2026:
Where can you intentionally create space for another woman?

Manuel Vazquez Roso Preeti A. Patel Montserrat Chivite Anh BOURCET Bea Massó de Rafael Yvette Venable Estefanía Fernández Martínez Míriam Fernández Delgado

Nerea Blanque Catalina

Partner Pricing, Access and Sustainability in the healthcare industry, support on navigating payer Expectations, improving Health Equity strategy and embed sustainability in pricing and access

1st day at EPA congress is almost over! 

Many discussions going on about MFN impact, Equitable access, BD partnerships and access!

As always really happy to meet new perople andold friends and acquaintances like Richard Stork Iván Matías Van Tuyne and  many more!

Please reach out to the pink shoes lady (me!) if you want to talk about pricing, access equity and sustainability!

No alternative text description for this image

Having a rare disease does not make someone strange.
It makes them statistically invisible and systemically underserved.

Having a rare disease is often painful.
Physically. Emotionally. Financially.

Having a rare disease means fighting battles most people will never see:
for diagnosis, for recognition, for access.

Having a rare disease means learning patience the hard way;  because diagnosis can take years, and treatment even longer.

To everyone living with a condition that few understand and too few systems prioritize:
We are not “rare” as people.
We are people navigating a rare system failure.
We deserve science.
We deserve access.
We deserve equity.

Wherever we live.

Can the industry and healthcare systems understand that?

♻️ Please share with your network so the post gets to a wider audience
👉 Follow Nerea Blanque Catalina 🌍 for more on pricing, access, and sustainability

Europe has a massive P&R coordination gap.

And patients are paying the price with delayed access.

We finally have shared clinical evidence through Joint Clinical Assessments. But pricing and reimbursement? Still chaos across 27 countries.

CAPRICORD is about to change that.

It's the missing coordination layer between EU HTA and national P&R decisions. Think of it as building the bridge we should have had years ago.

What is CAPRICORD exactly?
🔹 A forum of pricing & reimbursement authorities
🔹 Coordinating how clinical evidence gets used in P&R (not the decisions themselves)
🔹 Building shared methods, frameworks, transparency, and learning

What it's NOT (before anyone panics):
❌ NOT joint pricing
❌ NOT EU price setting  
❌ NOT stealing national sovereignty

The timeline:
3-year EU Joint Action under EU4Health. 17 institutions from 12 Member States. Nov 2025 to Oct 2028. €2M budget.

The deliverables:
🪶 Shared tools to manage uncertainty in pricing decisions
🪶 Templates for stakeholder involvement (patients + professionals)
🪶 Common approaches to orphan drug challenges
🪶 Methods that survive in the NCAPR network beyond 2028

Why should you care?

Methods will converge even when decisions stay national. More predictable processes. Faster outcomes.

But here's what keeps me up at night:

With MFN rolling out globally, will CAPRICORD actually accelerate access when breakthrough treatments emerge?

Or will we spend three years perfecting coordination while patients with rare diseases continue waiting?

Time will tell. But the stakes have never been higher.

♻️ Please share with your network so the post gets to a wider audience
👉 Follow Nerea Blanque Catalina 🌍 for more on pricing, access, and sustainability

Capricord by Nerea Blanque

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐩?
 
Save the date if you want to know the answer!

On 25 March there is a new Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association Barcelona face to face event at IESE Business School Healthcare Club North Campus in Barcelona.
 
We are proud to announce our keynote speaker will be Katharine D’ Amico PhD CEO, The Swala Institute and
Academic Collaborator, IESE Business School 

Katharine will speak about 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗽 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗘𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁: 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿, 𝗝𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

After that we will break into groups to discuss aspects of the keynote and also to network and get to know some attendees. 

Register here, places are limited:
🔗 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: https://lnkd.in/d3GqA7B4

See you all there my dears!

Isabel Alarcon, MD | Marta Anton, PCC | Tabatha Bourgois | Dr. Ana Rita da Costa | Isabel De La Paz | Ester Cavallé Salvadó | Vera Fernandez Sulis | Dina Ferreira | Patricia Ferriot| Vanita Garani | María Inés Garzón Hernández | Clara González-Melgarejo | Virginia Gonzalez Sola | Anais Gonzalez Iglesias | Cristina Guerra Laurie | Ester Guiu | Ezgi Halatli| Mar Masso | Jovi Mateo | Maria Clara Leal Nascimento Silva | Raquel Navarro-Prieto | Farzaneh Norouzi | Mercedes Prior | Alicia Rami, PMP, MBA | Rocío A. Reyes Gutiérrez| Helena Saigí Aguas | Claudia Serna Pujol | Jelena Stanisavljevic, Ph.D. | Laura Vidal Boixader | Laura Requejo | Myriam Bougo | Cecilia von Ahn Scheel |

Did you know that Marie Skłodowska-Curie won 2 Nobel prizes?

I didn’t, at least not until my son had to prepare homework on a famous woman. 

We researched together. Watched videos. Read articles written for kids. And I learned more than I expected.

Here’s what we discovered:
1️⃣ She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person ever to win two Nobel Prizes.
2️⃣ In 1903, she shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel for their work on radioactivity. (Initially, her name was not even included in the nomination, Pierre had to insist to include her!)
3️⃣ In 1911, after Pierre’s death, she won a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, for discovering polonium and radium and advancing the study of radioactivity.
4️⃣ Her research laid the foundation for modern radiotherapy. During World War I, she also helped develop mobile X-ray units to treat wounded soldiers.
5️⃣ Her notebooks are still radioactive today and are kept in lead-lined boxes.

Amazing, right?

What was harder was explaining to my son why she faced barriers to studying in the first place. Why recognition did not come naturally. Why being brilliant was not enough.

And it reminded me how much progress we’ve made at least in many developed countries.

But it also reminded me how much work remains. In parts of the world where girls still struggle to access education. Where safety, autonomy, and opportunity are not guaranteed.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie’s story is inspiring because of her genius.
It is powerful because of her resilience. 
And it is relevant because equality still requires intention. 

What stories are we telling the next generation?

♻️ Please share with your network so the post gets to a wider audience
👉 Follow Nerea Blanque Catalina 🌍 for more on pricing, access, and sustainability

Science without sustainability is incomplete healthcare

And if we keep treating it like a "nice-to-have," we're choosing clinical outcomes today over a health system that actually works tomorrow.

Henrik Berg and colleagues call this out directly in "From evidence-based to sustainable healthcare: Cochrane revisited" (2022). They argue that Cochrane originally included political context to promote equity yet later EBM models largely sidelined it, right when ecological crises are becoming impossible to ignore.

They frame sustainable healthcare through three shifts that feel very relevant for Market Access, Pricing, HTA and procurement:
1) Temporality
EBM is built around what we can prove from the past (often via RCTs). Sustainable healthcare forces us to include the future: impacts on future generations and the environment, even when RCT-type evidence can't exist yet. 
2) Complexity
RCTs show effectiveness of a variable. But sustainability lives in systems: pathways of care, resource use, waste, logistics, resilience, equity trade-offs. The authors say we need broader forms of evidence like stakeholder analysis, historical data, ethical principles because sustainability isn't reducible to one endpoint.
3) Values
This is the provocative part: sustainable healthcare starts from sustainable values (ecology, equity, integrity, dignity) and includes principles like acting to avoid severe irreversible harm even when "perfect evidence" is impossible.

My key takeaway as someone working in pricing & access:
If sustainability isn't a decision variable in HTA and access strategy, then "value" is being calculated with missing inputs.

And that's how we end up with solutions that look brilliant in a dossier…
but accelerate fragility in the real world.

So here's the challenge:
Where have you actually seen sustainability change a real reimbursement, formulary, or procurement decision? What did it look like in practice?

♻️ Please share with your network so the post gets to a wider audience
👉 Follow Nerea Blanque Catalina 🌍 for more on pricing, access, and sustainability

Sustainable healthcare

What happens when great pricing professionals come together with genuine passion for their job?

We have fun and we learn!

Last week's Barcelona Pricing Club event, sponsored by the Barcelona Finance School, delivered exactly that. The room was buzzing with energy, the conversations were rich, and the insights? Absolutely invaluable.

1️⃣ Steffen Rohwer made the journey from Germany to share his expertise with us. His session tackled something every one of us faces: navigating the complex relationship between Pricing and Procurement departments. 

What I loved most was his approach. Just practical, solid insights grounded in the real challenges companies live with daily.

I will speak about the pricing chess shortly, thanks for the inspiration Steffen!

2️⃣ Xavier Pirla brought the human dimension that often gets overlooked. His perspective on interdepartmental relationships, the art of adapting without compromising your identity, and truly understanding the mental frameworks of others resonated deeply. 

Pricing isn't just spreadsheets and models. It's people collaborating with people, and we often forget that! Please follow Xavier to listen to small capsules of his great speech!

3️⃣ Then came the Premio Manu Carricano announcement. As every year, we do it to honor the memory of our founder, who we lost in 2020. We welcome applications for the prize from now to the enf of June 2026 to opt for the prize! 

4️⃣ We're also evolving as an organization. The club is formalizing its structure with dedicated roles: President, Vice President, Secretary, Communications, and Education. We're transitioning from an informal group to a structured community that's here to stay and grow. Please send me a DM should you want to know more about the positions!
 
As always, I thank everyone that attended for their time and questions and to Juan Jardón for helping me bringing every pricing club to life!

Ready to be part of our next gathering?

♻️ Please share with your network so more pricing professionals can discover our community
👉 Follow Nerea Blanque Catalina for updates on future Barcelona Pricing Club events

Pricing club March 26

2036: Will Europe Still Matter for Pharmaceutical Innovation?

MFN pricing in the US is no longer political theatre. 

It is being operationalised, negotiated, and embedded into federal programs.

And Europe is directly in the reference basket.

So let’s stop pretending this won’t reshape our market.

Fast forward 10 years. Four futures are plausible:
1️⃣ Europe Becomes a Second-Launch Continent
 Companies protect US price corridors by delaying or avoiding EU launches.
 Patients wait. Indications are narrower. Some products never come.
2️⃣ Europe Admits Innovation Has a Price
 Major EU markets increase willingness to pay for true breakthroughs.
 Higher thresholds. Fewer clawbacks. Less symbolic price pressure.
 A strategic decision to co-fund global innovation instead of free-riding on it.
3️⃣ Two Atlantics, Two Standards of Care
 Different launch timing. Different labels. Different treatment guidelines.
 Scientific divergence driven by pricing policy.
4️⃣ Europe Holds the Line — and Slowly Falls Behind
Strict HTA, low prices, budget containment.
Access comes late. Generics dominate.
Innovation density shifts permanently to the US and selected Asian markets.

Let’s be honest: We cannot demand immediate launches, the lowest global prices, full budget protection, and a thriving biotech ecosystem at the same time.

What do you think will happen next?

Would you add any more scenarios?

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As VP of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association Barcelona chapter, I don't want to complain about gender bias in research funding.

I'm here to understand WHY we're walking away from massive economic returns.

The WHAM Report just dropped interesting data:

• $40M invested in lung cancer research → $611M in returns
• $290M invested in Alzheimer's disease → $930M in returns
• $20M invested in coronary artery disease → $2B in returns
• $6M invested in rheumatoid arthritis → $10.5B in returns

These aren't projections. 

These are documented returns on women's health research investments.

So here's what I can't wrap my head around: 

If the ROI is this compelling, why aren't we flooding women's health research with funding?

This affects every healthcare system. Every economy. Every family.

What system dynamics are keeping this opportunity hidden in plain sight? 
Is it risk perception? 
Regulatory pathways? 
Market structures? 
Something else entirely?

I'm genuinely curious about your perspective. What do you think is blocking this?

Learn more about the economic case: whamnow.org/the-report

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Today I learned a new word: "enshittification."

And honestly, it's the perfect term for something we've all experienced.

The Norwegian Consumer Council just released this video and a research on how digital platforms gradually get worse as companies prioritize profits over users:
https://lnkd.in/ej59kxca
Sound familiar?

Customer service chatbots that make reaching an actual human nearly impossible and my favourite Enshits.

This reminded me why transparent pricing and doing things well matters so much in healthcare. 

When people's lives depend on access, we can't afford the enshittification playbook.

What's your best example of a platform that's gotten noticeably worse?

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What if war and all its contamination could be prevented for $2 billion?

Not trillions in defense spending. Just $2 billion in prevention.

That's not my claim. It's Scilla Elworthy's.

And she has three Nobel Peace Prize nominations!

Scilla is the founder of Business Plan for Peace. She had zero background in defense, security, or intelligence. Yet she did what governments cannot do:

1️⃣ During the Cold War, she brought together nuclear decision-makers from opposing sides. No formal training. No credentials. Just the conviction that someone had to try.

2️⃣ She founded Oxford Research Group and later Business Plan for Peace. Her latest book opens with a bold claim: war can be prevented for $2 billion. Not trillions spent on defense. Just $2 billion invested in prevention.

3️⃣ Here's the part that gives me chills: she had experienced meditators practice in the room directly beneath high-level peace dialogues. The negotiators above had no idea. Her belief? You can't solve outer violence without addressing inner violence first.

4️⃣ Three Nobel Peace Prize nominations later, her approach is finally being recognized worldwide. Not because she was the obvious choice. Because she was brave enough to be the necessary one.

5️⃣ Her message is simple: lasting peace requires inner work. You can't negotiate peace from a place of inner conflict.

In March 2026, with tensions escalating everywhere, her work feels desperately needed.

Sometimes the most qualified person for the job is the one with enough courage to try when everyone else says it's impossible.

Thanks Alex Evans for bringing Scilla's profile to my attention and for the amazing interview: https://lnkd.in/e8D-upU5

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