CT’s Health Care Cabinet began
drilling down into rising prescription drug costs and state options to stem
the rise. We heard from Ameet Sarpatwari, consultant to NASHP on their report for
states, and Tom Brownlie of Pfizer and Jenny Bryant of PhRMA. Dr.
Sarpatwari outlined high US spending on drugs and the consequences for
consumers’ health and finances. He acknowledged that drug companies face high,
expensive hurdles in bringing a drug to market. But he also rebutted claims
that high prices drive innovation (no evidence for that) and it’s the FDA’s
fault (not true either). The real driver of rising costs, according to Dr.
Sarpatwari, is the lack of competition and barriers to timely generic market
entry. He outlined eleven state policy options including transparency
laws, bulk purchasing, legal accountability, protecting consumers from
misleading marketing, active shareholder advocacy, and creating a public
utility for in-state drug prices.
Pfizer and PhRMA put drug spending in context of rising
health costs across sectors, that retail prices are heavily discounted for most
payers, and the important health improvements and cures that innovative new
drugs provide. The speakers suggested better benefit design, medication
synchronization, improving adherence and medication management. They also
highlighted the recent sharp rise in cost shifting to consumers, which can
reduce utilization of both high and low value medications. Cabinet members also
offered successful counter detailing programs and public health prevention
programs to manage conditions without medications as options. Our next meeting
will be February 14th at 9am.
