An insider explains how U.S. prescription drug prices are set.
THE U.S. SPENDS more than any other highincome country on health care, and prescription drugs account for about 17 percent of all health care spending. President Donald Trump has vowed to lower drug prices but has not yet proposed any concrete approach for doing so. There was no mention of the issue in the American Health Care Act proposed by House Republicans in March.
More than $370 billion per year is spent on prescription drugs in the United States, exceeding all other countries. Pharmaceutical companies often justify the cost of drugs as necessary to support the research and development—the R&D—of innovative treatments. If we want cures for devastating diseases, they say, we have to pay for them. But that explanation is disputed.
Research by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development put the cost of developing a new drug at $2.6 billion. That research was supported by the pharmaceutical industry, however, and the estimate has been questioned.
Shefali Shah has spent more than 15 years helping pharmaceutical companies navigate issues surrounding the cost of new medications. To pinpoint the magic dollar amount for a given medication, she has worked with biotech giants like Genentech, small biotechs bringing their first products to market and external consulting companies. Now an independent adviser, Shah spoke with Newsweek about drug prices: where they come from, who negotiates them and how they got so incredibly complicated.
NEWSWEEK: What is the difference between pricing and reimbursement?
Bu hikaye Newsweek dergisinin April 14 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Newsweek dergisinin April 14 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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