How your lifestyle sickness, keeps Big Pharma in business

In India, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) can fix prices for essential drugs, and we have about 400 medicines on the list. Indian efforts to control drug prices come under sharp criticism by the Big Pharma, both domestic and international alliances, and this is the subject that is often the matter of several court cases.

In this concluding part of the series - India needn't follow the 'broken' US healthcare model, let's focus our attention on the perpetual sickness that keeps the industry in business, and how India can play it differently.

A recent poll from Gallup found that the pharmaceutical sector is the most disliked industry in the United States. This is hardly surprising that the industry suffers such a low image.

Healthcare is roughly one-fifth of the GDP of the United States. In 2020, an average American household spent approximately 18-20% of its income on healthcare, including medical services, prescription drugs, and insurance premiums. Healthcare takes away a big wallet share, on a perpetual, continuous basis. 

There are several reasons for this, let’s focus on the top three. In parallel, we will also see the Indian approach to the same and how it comes under fire now and then from the West. 

HIGH DRUG PRICES

United States has one of the highest drug prices in the world, ramping up the cost of healthcare. For example, the patented diabetes drug, Lantus to control blood sugar, costs $419 in the U.S.A., $55 in South Africa, and roughly $40 in India, for a similar blister pack of five injections. In the case of generics, the price difference is even starker.

It is surprising how an advanced market like the United States functions without a government controlling any part of the process, with utter disregard for patient health.