Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Drugmakers' Patents And Unique Role In Setting U.S. Prices Contributes To Soaring Costs, Study Finds
The 鈥渕ost important factor鈥 that drives prescription drug prices higher in the United States than anywhere else in the world is the existence of government-protected 鈥渕onopoly鈥 rights for drug manufacturers, researchers at Harvard Medical School report today. The researchers reviewed thousands of studies published from January 2005 through July 2016 in an attempt to simplify and explain what has caused America鈥檚 drug price crisis and how to solve it. They found that the problem has deep and complicated roots and published their findings in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association. (Lupkin, 8/23)
Tightening standards for so-called secondary patents for pharmaceuticals could help reduce drug prices and spur more medical innovation, according to a new JAMA paper that reviews more than a decade of health policy literature on U.S. pharmaceutical pricing. The most important factors that allows companies to set high drug prices is market exclusivity protected by patents and monopoly rights awarded by FDA approval, the paper says. The authors argue that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office should only grant new patents to existing drugs if improvements are made to a product's safety or effectiveness 鈥 and not for trivial changes. (Karlin-Smith, 8/23)
Pharmaceutical firms have often justified the need to set high prices for their products by arguing that they offset the costs incurred for research and development, which they have contended can take hundreds of millions of dollars. Any requirement to lower drug prices could disrupt the pipeline for innovative breakthroughs.But the study rebuts that argument, pointing out that drugmakers invest between 10% and 20% into research and development and even less when it comes to the development of innovative products. (Johnson, 8/23)
As of 2013, per capita spending on prescription drugs in the United States was more than double that of 19 other industrialized nations -- $858 per year in the United States, compared to an average of $400 per year everywhere else. Overall, prescriptions occupy about 17 percent of U.S. healthcare services, the researchers estimate. (Feller, 8/23)
