Multiple factors contribute to the final cost and price of drugs to payers and patients. While spending on prescription drugs constituted about 14 percent of overall national health expenditures in 2018, one in four Americans reported difficulty affording their medications. Additionally, as scientific advancement brings more complex specialty drugs and potentially curative cell and gene therapies to enter the market, the policy community and consumers are growing more concerned about the affordability of those drugs.
In this session exclusively for journalists, expert panelists explored the tension between the affordability of prescription drugs and the need to preserve advances in biomedical innovation. Speakers overviewed the topic’s background, including pricing trends, the current state of American biomedical research and development, and the current regulatory and reimbursement structures to encourage innovation. Speakers also discussed at a high-level, the proposals for change that might impact drug innovation as well affordability for the federal government, consumers, and health care markets.
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Speakers:
- Rena M. Conti, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Markets, Public Policy and Law, Questrom School of Business, Boston University
- Benedic N. Ippolito, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
- Mark E. Miller, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Health Care, Arnold Ventures (moderator)
This event was reserved for credentialed members of the press.