Trump’s early tough talk on drug pricing is now a pro-industry, anti-regulation GOP dreamscape
By Bryn Gay- Treatment Action Group
By Bryn Gay- Treatment Action Group
Unaffordable drug prices were a hot-button topic on the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign trail and remain a significant source of frustration among Democrats and Republicans in Congress. This common ground, backed by public opinion (see sidebar), can be leveraged to steer drug-pricing legislation and regulations toward truly bold initiatives that prioritize affordable treatment access.
Within his first two weeks in office, Trump met with pharmaceutical executives and regurgitated classic capitalist remedies for high drug pricing. Rather than consulting with patient groups or health policy specialists, the administration has primarily focused on meeting with the pharmaceutical industry. Trump’s initial stance of empowering the U.S. government to step up its ability to negotiate drug prices, notably for Medicare, have since shifted toward fast-tracking drug approval and rolling back regulations.
Trump’s proposals fall short of and diverge from popular demands because they lack the ambition of approaches used in other countries to rein in drug cost expenditures: consolidation of purchasing power and other initiatives that would contribute to lower prices and earlier generic competition, such as shortened patent life; increased transparency in research and development (R&D) costs and pricing; and open-source research that discloses scientific findings, deprioritizes patent protection, and avoids monopolistic pricing. Executive action on drug pricing, however, appears unlikely.
Value-based drug-pricing regulations, such as those established by Germany’s AMNOG law, are another model that could potentially guide U.S. drug pricing reform and reward scientific innovation without bankrupting payers or patients. AMNOG determines pricing decisions on the basis of independent assessment of a new drug’s additional clinical benefits over existing drugs, relies on full transparency in all negotiation steps, and negotiates directly with pharmaceutical companies and key stakeholders, rather than involving government intermediaries. However, value-based pricing raises additional significant questions. Is a market-based economic system the best way to value drugs and human lives? Is the methodology of value-based tendering in itself transparent and does it reflect patients’ concerns? Does it address true innovation, or could ‘value’ be potentially rigged by the pharmaceutical industry?
TO CONTINUE READING:http://www.treatmentactiongroup.org/content/wrangling-affordable-drug-pricing-and-hcv-elimination-under-new-white-house-administration
Within his first two weeks in office, Trump met with pharmaceutical executives and regurgitated classic capitalist remedies for high drug pricing. Rather than consulting with patient groups or health policy specialists, the administration has primarily focused on meeting with the pharmaceutical industry. Trump’s initial stance of empowering the U.S. government to step up its ability to negotiate drug prices, notably for Medicare, have since shifted toward fast-tracking drug approval and rolling back regulations.
Trump’s proposals fall short of and diverge from popular demands because they lack the ambition of approaches used in other countries to rein in drug cost expenditures: consolidation of purchasing power and other initiatives that would contribute to lower prices and earlier generic competition, such as shortened patent life; increased transparency in research and development (R&D) costs and pricing; and open-source research that discloses scientific findings, deprioritizes patent protection, and avoids monopolistic pricing. Executive action on drug pricing, however, appears unlikely.
Value-based drug-pricing regulations, such as those established by Germany’s AMNOG law, are another model that could potentially guide U.S. drug pricing reform and reward scientific innovation without bankrupting payers or patients. AMNOG determines pricing decisions on the basis of independent assessment of a new drug’s additional clinical benefits over existing drugs, relies on full transparency in all negotiation steps, and negotiates directly with pharmaceutical companies and key stakeholders, rather than involving government intermediaries. However, value-based pricing raises additional significant questions. Is a market-based economic system the best way to value drugs and human lives? Is the methodology of value-based tendering in itself transparent and does it reflect patients’ concerns? Does it address true innovation, or could ‘value’ be potentially rigged by the pharmaceutical industry?
TO CONTINUE READING:http://www.treatmentactiongroup.org/content/wrangling-affordable-drug-pricing-and-hcv-elimination-under-new-white-house-administration
RSS Feed