Jean-Luc Harousseau, MD, from the University of Nantes, Nantes, France gives an overview of his talk on the access to novel drugs in multiple myeloma (MM) held at the 2016 World Congress on Controversies in Multiple Myeloma (COMy) in Paris, France. Prof Harousseau argues that it is important to take into consideration, that several new drugs have been approved in recent years and life expectancy for patients has improved. He further discusses the issue of drug prices and the sustainability of healthcare systems as well as the strategies employed by various countries, such as Germany and France, to assess the use of a new drug. According to Prof Harousseau, the question is why these drugs are expensive and he argues that the pricing should be more transparent and fair.