Policy Today: All About Prescription Drug Prices

Washington Research Council

Today's guest is Saumil Pandya, Senior Director of Policy & Research at PhRMA, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. We discuss the lengthy process of getting a drug to market; comparing the high prices of some drugs (such as those used to cure Hepatitis C) with the even higher prices of treatment, hospitalization and surgery; how the prescription drug industry interacts with Medicaid; and the price-reducing effects of drugs going off-patent and being available in generic form. Here are links to some of the studies and reports mentioned in this podcast: Washington Research Council report on "How Medicaid and Prescription Drug Spending Impact the State Budget:" http://researchcouncil.org/files/docs/2016/11/hca2016.pdf Tufts study on the average cost to develop and gain marketing approval for a new drug (summary): http://csdd.tufts.edu/news/complete_story/tufts_csdd_rd_cost_study_now_published Berkeley Research Group study on "The Pharmaceutical Supply Chain:" http://www.thinkbrg.com/assets/htmldocuments/Vandervelde_PhRMA-January-2017_WEB-FINAL.pdf Health Affairs Study, "Medication Adherence Leads To Lower Health Care Use And Costs Despite Increased Drug Spending:" http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/30/1/91.full.pdf+html