With so many important issues being debated today, there are few topics that health care, legal, and economic experts agree on. But the fact that drug companies are the root cause of high prescription drug prices is one common denominator among many thought leaders who have taken a close look at America’s health care system.
A wide array of voices have come out against Big Pharma’s exploitation of the patent system and push for anti-competitive tactics to keep prescription drug prices high and boost their own profits. See what experts are saying:
Tom Capone, Former Health Analyst, Cato Institute
RealClearMarkets: The Pharmaceutical Industry’s Promise For Reducing Drug Prices
“The pharmaceutical industry has a simple tool at its disposal to lower health care costs for patients: It can simply reduce the prices they set for prescription drugs. Instead, the industry uses the market power granted by its patents to keep drug prices high, and when those expire pharmaceutical companies often resort to various machinations to keep the cost of brand-name medicine high.”
Dr. Rachel Goode, Senior Vice President, Patents and Legal, Fresenius Kabi
Washington Examiner: Patent Office Is Asking The Right Questions To Lower Drug Costs
“Brand pharmaceutical companies are gaming the patent system, and it’s costing us all…Why does it matter if a duplicative patent is approved if it expires at the same time as the original? Biosimilar makers work to identify weak, non-innovative, follow-on patents to challenge as a means to come to market sooner and compete. Challenging a patent, whether weak or strong, duplicative or innovative, costs about $1 million dollars from start to finish. A potential competitor must invalidate every single patent to enter the market. This becomes a cost-prohibitive proposition for a generic and/or biosimilar maker.”
“Branded drug companies know it’s a numbers game that their competitors can’t win. The result — delayed generic and biosimilar launches — keeps patients and the Medicare program paying higher prices for longer than anywhere else in the world.”
Drew Keyes, Senior Policy Analyst, Paragon Health Institute
Townhall: Congress Should Not Do The Bidding Of A Dying Trade Association
“The pharmaceutical industry has lost its lobbying edge, and Congress should ignore its latest, panicked rebrand, an all-out offensive against Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), the entities that manage health insurance prescription benefits.”
“If Congress passes interventionist, anti-PBM legislation, costs may not go down. In fact, they could very well go up… A University of Chicago study found that the very elements of the proposed legislation ‘can harm consumers by discouraging competition. The annual net costs of the potential anticompetitive effects of disclosure rules are likely in the tens of billions of dollars.’”
Former Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY), Nurse, Attorney, and previous acting Chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Washington Examiner: Big Government Will Not Lower Healthcare Costs
“Lowering drug costs and improving patient outcomes should not be controversial. So why is there a fight? PBMs are the only part of the drug supply chain with a financial incentive to lower healthcare costs.”
“Consequently, drug companies and pharmacies view PBMs as obstacles to higher profits. And so, they’ve requested policymakers deploy protectionist policies to shield them from PBMs’ cost-saving tactics.”
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Read PCMA’s recent blog on what health care, business, political, and economic experts are saying about the critical cost saving role of pharmacy benefit companies HERE.
Learn how Big Pharma keeps the vast majority of the Rx dollar HERE.
See PCMA’s guide to understanding the role and value of pharmacy benefit companies HERE.
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PCMA is the national association representing America’s pharmacy benefit companies. Pharmacy benefit companies are working every day to secure savings, enable better health outcomes, and support access to quality prescription drug coverage for more than 275 million patients. Learn more at www.pcmanet.org
