Posted by Michael Wonder on 13 Jun 2019
Realigning incentives to optimise generic and biosimilar prescribing
13 June 2019 - Drug prices and their impact on total US health care expenditures are again front of mind for policy makers, patients, and clinicians.
In 2018, 39 states passed 94 laws targeting pricing and the cost of prescription drugs. So far in 2019, at least 40 bills have been introduced in Congress, and, by our count, committees of jurisdiction have convened more than 20 hearings.
Nowhere is the issue of drug costs more acute than in the domain of oncology. Spending on cancer drugs in the US doubled between 2012 and 2017, with two-thirds of the growth coming from drugs launched in the past five years. The median annual launch price increased from $79,000 in 2013 to $150,000 in 2017. By 2017, the average cost per patient for cancer drugs increased to $250,000, or roughly four times the median US household income.
