Tackling Rising Pharmaceutical Prices: 50 Shades of Gray

By SUSAN DENTZER Global New Active Substances (NAS) Available Since 1996 Here’s the problem with high and rising pharmaceutical prices:  It’s not just one problem, but many.  Addressing them will require a range of solutions – many of them difficult to execute, and possibly tough medicine to swallow. These were key takeaways from the recent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Pharmaceutical Forum,which I moderated.  A broad group of stakeholders participated, including patients, consumer groups, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacy benefits managers, insurers and others.  The key issues: Obtaining the greatest value for the dollars we spend on drugs –and having a vital biopharmaceutical sector that produces vaccines, effective treatments,and cures, at affordable costs for patients and the nation. Having slowed along with the rest of health care spending in recent years, pharmaceutical spending is now roaring ahead. Total pharmaceutical sales, now about $400 billion annually, are projected to reach as high as $590 billion in 2020, according to Doug Long, vice president of industry relations at IMS Health. New National Health Expenditure data show that national retail prescription drug spending grew 12.2 percent in 2014 – a sharp increase over 2.4 percent growth in 2013  — in large part due to increased spending for new drugs, such as cures for Hepatitis C. There is, in fact, good news in much of this spending. For example, 96 percent of patie...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: THCB Susan Dentzer Source Type: blogs