Pharma ’s social contract: time for everyone to join in

When a scandal occurs in pharma, the whole industry is tarred by the same brush. We ’re still suffering the ill effects of Martin Shkreli’s 5000%overnight price increase of a life-saving anti-parastic, from way back in 2015.Pharma ’s trust problemBrent Saunders, Chairman& CEO of Allergan,sees this as part and parcel of doing business in this industry. Pricing will always be controversial within healthcare, because choosing between two sets of health outcomes is fundamentally different from choosing between two different brands of an electric toaster. The problem is: this reality isn ’t widely acknowledged across the industry, which leads to complacency and a failure to recognize that trust must be actively cultivated between the industry and the patient. Saunders comments, “I’m utterly convinced my Allergan colleagues are authentic and are motivated by doing good things. But that doesn’t mean people are just going to trust us.” He continues, “Unfortunately, much of our industry expects this trust to be automatic. The reality is that there’s nothing automatic. We have issues with justifying our pricing. We need to build data around the value of our medicines. These things take time and effort, and trust is slow and hard-fought.”But unlike other pharma leaders, Saunders sees another way forward.One year ago today, he proposed a solution: the codification of a ‘social contract’ that formalizes unwritten obligations between pharma and patients. Saun...
Source: EyeForPharma - Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Source Type: news