Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
This month, RADAR on Specialty Pharmacy, wrote an article on drug importation titled “HHS Importation Efforts Move Ahead, but Questions Remain”. As part of the article, I was interviewed. Below is an excerpt. High drug prices have been in the news for a few years, catching “the ire of public opinion and politicians,” observes Jason…
Not a surprising finding but an important one nonetheless. Using data from the 2013–17 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) a paper by Gaffney et al. (2020) finds: Although people with VHA [Veterans Health Administration] coverage were older and in worse health and had lower incomes than those with other coverage, VHA patients had lower rates…
Consider the case of two drugs, Drug A and Drug B. Both drugs treat patients with the same disease. Further, assume they are close substitutes. When Drug A loses it’s patent and generics can enter the market, one would expect Drug A’s market share (brand + generic) to rise. In fact, Drug A’s market share…
Today, the Trump administration laid out a plan to allow states, drug wholesalers and pharmacies to import some cheaper drugs from Canada. While at first glance many may believe that this approach would lead to large decreases in drug prices, in practice the impact on prices is likely to be modest. In a Washington Times…
FDA is encouraging the development of abuse-deterrent formulations of opioids. What are abuse-deterrent formulations (ADF)? FDA explains: Abuse-deterrent formulations target the known or expected routes of abuse, such as crushing in order to snort or dissolving in order to inject, for the specific opioid drug substance. The good news is that ADF opioids reduce the…
How do you measure the value of new drugs? An organization known as the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review relies almost exclusively on Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALY)-based framework. While that is a good start, many new treatments may have impacts beyond directly on health including on educational outcomes, productivity, caregiver burden. Further, society is…
A number of politicians have called for the ability to import drugs from Canada and other developed countries. For instance, Bernie Sanders said: “I believe we should be able to import into the United States from Canada, and from other countries, FDA-approved medicine, which would substantially lower prices.” However, Canada does not want the U.S.…
According to Chambers et al. (2019), the answer varies widely depending on the health plan. The authors use a data from the Tufts Medical Center Specialty Drug Evidence and Coverage (SPEC) database. 203 specialty drugs issued by 17 of the 20 largest US commercial health plans are included in the database. This study examines nearly…
Many European countries use external reference pricing (ERP) to help set their drug prices. External reference pricing caps the prices of drugs at some average or weighted average of the drug price in other countries. The comparison countries typically are either in close proximity or of similar GDP/capita level. The advantage of reference pricing is…
A recent report by the National Pharmaceutical Council provides an overview of seven different value frameworks. Specifically, the overview includes value frameworks developed by: American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association (ACC-AHA), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Avalere/FasterCures Patient-Perspective Value Framework (PPFV) Innovation and Value Initiative (IVI) Open-Source Value Project (OSVP) Institute…