Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
The Economist notes that counterfeit drugs are a growing problem. “Counterfeit drugs can kill. Many are shoddily made, containing the wrong dose of the active ingredient. Taking them instead of the real thing can turn a treatable disease into a fatal one. It can also foster drug resistance among germs.” Do patents cause and increase…
In 2008, Americans spend over $14 billion on proton pump inhibitors. These heartburn treatments such as Nexium, Prevacid, and Protonix may put millions of patients at risk. According to Scientific American, long-term use of these medicines has been linked to “withdrawal symptoms, an increased risk of bacterial infection, hip fracture and even possible nutritional deficiencies.” Additionally,…
Yesterday, I mentioned that low-income individuals on Medicare can also qualify for Medicaid and, as full-beneift dual eligible beneficiaries, they have significantly lower cost sharing than the typical Part D beneficiary. How does CMS identify these individuals? For currently beneficiaries on Medicaid who ‘age’ into Medicare, this process is fairly easy. CMS can auto-enroll these…
Health insurers face a conundrum. Increased cost sharing helps to reduce patient utilization of medical resources and–at least inititally–lowers the cost of care. Too much cost sharing, however, can lead to decreased patient adherence. In this case, the patients may get sick and require hospitalization, which will actually increase cost. Cost sharing’s affect on adherence…
Conventional wisdom holds that economists advocate for reducing regulation on most policy arenas. Regulation imposes costs and businesses and is often ineffective. Further, as technology and market conditions change, regulations which were originally welfare enhancing can now become archane. The public generally views the FDA’s pre-approval as a worthwhile endeavor. The goal of FDA pre-approval…
Before a drug can come to market, it must receive FDA approval. This involves 3 phases of testing with Phase I having 20-80 volunteers and Phase III often testing more than 1,000 people. Despite the FDA approval, patients can sue drug companies if they are injured by a drug. Patients can generally sue manufacturers under…
A paper by DiMasi et al. (2003) found that the cost of drug development was $802 million. This is a highly contentious number. Drug companies have used this number to lobby regulators to loosen the FDA approval process. The data used in the study, however, was confidential and could not be replicated by other authors.…
NPR’s All Things Considers documents the creation of the blockbuster drug Fosamax. Physicians use Fosamax to treat patients with osteoporosis and the less severe osteopenia. To summarize what took place: Pharmaceutical companies start lobbying to expand Medicare coverage for bone density tests. Medicare expands coverage to include bone density tests. Physicians purchase equipment to test…
GoozNews reports that “the Senate Judiciary Committee…passed legislation prohibiting brand name drug manufacturers from paying off generic manufacturers in patent disputes. They get the money in exchange for not bringing the cheaper drug to market.” Is this a wise move for Congress? The main question one should ask is why brand name manufacturers pay off generic…
This past February, I wrote about the spread of physician learning concerning harmful side-effects of Cox-2 inhibitors, including Bextra. Today, The New York Times reports that Pfizer has agreed to pay a $2.3 billion settlement with CMS over the company’s illegal promotion of its now-withdrawn painkiller, Bextra. “Marketing fraud cases against pharmaceutical companies have become…