Why do governments trust Big Pharma more than their citizens? Should they not insist drug companies reveal the costs of research especially if grants are given?
Italy has come up with a plan to slash the cost of medicines by May. But for the strategy to work, they need everyone to get on board.
Drug companies have also used the cost of researching and developing new medicines to justify their high prices. However, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this year found few links between the two.
The research included 99 cancer drugs approved by the United States medicines regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), over about 30 years. It revealed that companies coined about R200 for every rand spent on research and development – a ratio the authors say is unfair, even after they considered a reward for innovation.
Besides, companies aren’t always upfront about what costs really go into their products, says James Love, director of the public health law organisation Knowledge Ecology International.
And governments are falling for it. But if pharmaceutical companies want a million dollar grant from the US national health insurance programme MediCare, the government’s not supposed to ask any questions.
In February, Italy’s health minister,Giulia Grillo, sent the WHO a resolution letter for discussion at the World Health Assembly. The World Health Assembly is an annual event which happens in May — during which all WHO member states gather. In the letter, Grillo proposes that drug prices could be reduced if countries forced pharmaceutical companies to be open about what it really costs to produce medicines. The plan is to give governments a way to enforce changes in the way medicine prices are set.
See bhekisisa.org/article/2019-04-…
#bigpharma #pharmaceuticals #health
source https://squeet.me/display/962c3e10-215c-bc53-b33d-663957874386
Drug companies have also used the cost of researching and developing new medicines to justify their high prices. However, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this year found few links between the two.
The research included 99 cancer drugs approved by the United States medicines regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), over about 30 years. It revealed that companies coined about R200 for every rand spent on research and development – a ratio the authors say is unfair, even after they considered a reward for innovation.
Besides, companies aren’t always upfront about what costs really go into their products, says James Love, director of the public health law organisation Knowledge Ecology International.
And governments are falling for it. But if pharmaceutical companies want a million dollar grant from the US national health insurance programme MediCare, the government’s not supposed to ask any questions.
In February, Italy’s health minister,Giulia Grillo, sent the WHO a resolution letter for discussion at the World Health Assembly. The World Health Assembly is an annual event which happens in May — during which all WHO member states gather. In the letter, Grillo proposes that drug prices could be reduced if countries forced pharmaceutical companies to be open about what it really costs to produce medicines. The plan is to give governments a way to enforce changes in the way medicine prices are set.
See bhekisisa.org/article/2019-04-…
#bigpharma #pharmaceuticals #health
source https://squeet.me/display/962c3e10-215c-bc53-b33d-663957874386
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