Posted by Michael Wonder on 22 Dec 2018
Dealing with drug pricing: not just one solution
22 December 2018 - On 11 December, US FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced a set of rules that would change the way insulin production is regulated in the USA, potentially leading to increased accessibility and lower prices for the drug. Those changes will not take effect until 2020.
The soaring cost and limited supply of insulin (which has been available for nearly a century) is just one example of an ongoing crisis of global drug prices, from treatments for hepatitis C that cost US$100 000 for a single course to cancer drugs that cost $400 000 per year per patient.
According to a WHO report on global public health spending, in 2016, the world spent $7·5 trillion dollars on health, nearly 10% of the world's gross domestic product. Spending per capita on health is also highly unequal, nearly $2000 in high-income countries, versus only $400 and $100 in middle- and low-income countries, respectively.
