20 October 2016 - The national debate over increasing costs and spending for pharmaceuticals has reached a fever pitch. Special concern has focused on new “specialty” drugs, for which per-patient treatment costs often exceed $1,000 per month or more than $10 ,000 for a course of a therapy. 

The most commonly discussed solutions include approaches to pricing these drugs based on their value to individual patients. However, for pharmaceuticals vital to public health, such as immunizations and drugs to treat communicable diseases, policy makers should broaden their perspective to consider the population as a whole.

For example, for new drugs used to treat hepatitis C infection, manufacturers have set prices in excess of $40 ,000 per course of treatment, and payers have responded with a variety of policies limiting patient access. In addition, many patients who need treatment are uninsured. As a result, only about 10% of an estimated 3 million US residents with hepatitis C are receiving care for a life-threatening and contagious infection.

This constitutes a national crisis in access that is causing unnecessary morbidity and is anticipated to result in significant preventable mortality.

Read JAMA Viewpoint