Tag Archives: Drug Prices

Prescription Drugs: What Is The Right Price? (NEJM)

Why can’t the U.S. control prescription drug pricing as they do in the U.K., where per-capita spending is less than half our level?

In a capitalist democracy, many parties — the drug companies, medical associations, consumer groups — get to lobby their points of view. Is the problem intractable, or just an exercise in chaos?

Our three guests have written a book about the problem, “The Right Price: A value-based prescription for drug costs.” And although they don’t have a definitive answer, they do offer recommendations, interesting observations, and a way forward.

PODCAST: ‘THE FUTURE OF DRUG PRICE TRANSPARENCY’

Interview with Dr. William Feldman on a new federal price-transparency rule and legal challenges to efforts to increase access to pricing information.

William Feldman is a physician and researcher in the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Stephen Morrissey, the interviewer, is the Executive Managing Editor of the Journal.

Medicine: “Relentless Prescription Drug Price Increases” (JAMA Podcast)

JAMA Network NewsDrug Pricing Theme Issue: Is Pharma Earning Too Much?, R&D Costs Required to Bring a New Drug to Market, Probiotic Safety, and more

One in 4 people in the US has difficulty paying the cost of their prescription medications. This stark fact was recently reported in a 2019 Kaiser Family Foundation public opinion poll among a nationally representative random sample of 1205 adults.1 Persons who reported having the greatest difficulty affording their prescription drugs were those who most needed them, including those who took 4 or more prescription drugs, spent $100 or more per month on their drugs, and reported being in fair or poor health.

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Podcasts: “Intitute For Clinical And Economic Review” (ICER) Is Helping To Lower Drug Prices (WSJ)

Wall Street Journal PodcastsAn obscure think tank in Boston is getting drug companies to lower their prices – using something called a QALY. WSJ’s Denise Roland explains what a QALY is, and why it’s controversial.