Drug Industry Lobby Group Defends High Drug Prices
[Posted on: Thursday, September 10, 2015]

This is the year of drug pricing debate. There are numerous voices to challenge high price charged by manufacturers for life-saving drugs, including introduction of a bill this week in the US Congress to add measures for price control. While political and public opinion appears to be shifting towards reducing the spiraling cost of new drugs, the drug industry is fighting back. While the price-control group is getting better at its message, unfortunately, the drug industry is still using old arguments of the high cost of developing new drugs and the challenges to approval. A recent article by Phrma, the largest lobby group for the US drug industry, argues that drug approval process is getting more challenging and expensive, trying to justify the high price for drugs once approved. The argument is weak and old. It is true that drug development is a very risky endeavor, it is long and expensive, and have a lot of unpredictable events, both positive and negative, but try explaining that to a patient whose lethal disease cannot be treated due to the astronomical cost of the new drug that got recently approved. A better argument could be the savings in medical expenses over the alternate standard of care, the increased quality of longer life, and the market forces that play a role in pricing of all products.  Drug industry cannot hide behind old arguments but needs to tackle the issue head-on by providing the real reason new drugs deserve a higher price tag and protection from competition. This is an important discussion both for the industry and patients as both struggle to balance their existence in the changing balance.