The generic medicine manufacturing industry and chain drug stores represent the starting and end point of the pharmaceutical value chain delivering the vast majority of prescription medicines to American patients every day. In the case of the generic industry, we produce the medicines for 92% of the prescriptions that your pharmacists fill each year, however
U.S. patients may not fully understand the complex manufacturing and market dynamics that allow them to pay an average of just $6.61 for their generic prescription medicines at the pharmacy counter. That’s why tens of millions of Americans entrust their health to generics and biosimilars. In fact, fully 90% — nearly 4 billion in 2020
When patients receive their prescriptions at the pharmacy counter, the pharmacist is handing them a generic medicine nine times out of 10. Because of that, their co-pay is about 8.5 times more affordable than those for brands; 93% of the time generic co-pays are below $20. Doctors, pharmacists and patients count on the value proposition
On the tiering issue for generics, answering the question: “Why are your Part D patients paying higher co-pays for low-cost generics?” The availability of generic drugs has long meant safe, effective and affordable access to medicines for America’s patients. Generics are an integral component of patient care, offering quality, lower-cost versions of prescription drugs approved
Americans consistently say congressional action is needed to lower the price of the medicines we need to stay healthy and live productively. In a January 2021 Politico/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health survey, drug prices came second only to COVID-19 relief as the issue we care most about, with 95% of Democrats and 82%
For most U.S. patients, affordable prescription medicines are just a short drive or walk from home to the drug store — or medicines are delivered right to their mailbox. This degree of convenience takes a lot of work behind the scenes. To get biosimilars and generics from the manufacturer to the pharmacy to the patients,
As the country tentatively prepares to return to school and the office this fall, there seems to be little certainty except that the coronavirus threat will be with us for a long while. Social distancing and economic uncertainty will remain a part of everyday life. The pandemic has highlighted the fragility of our social safety
As I write this column, I’m working at home, social distancing from others not in my immediate family, yet keeping close to my coworkers and community through a blend of online video and other communications. As COVID-19 continues to spread across the United States, I wonder when we will return to “normal” — or even
Our nation’s ongoing health care debates have been rancorous, a situation that’s not likely to improve in 2020 with a presidential election. Rather than make predictions in this column, this year I’m outlining a wish list for the health care sector, actions we can all take to make health care more efficient, reduce wasteful spending,
Earlier this spring, the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) partnered with the Healthcare Leadership Council to hold town hall meetings in Raleigh, N.C., and Nashville. We asked health care leaders in those communities what really matters to them. Participants focused on the top of the health care funnel: prevention. Many thoughtful participants in those rooms felt
During the last few months, we’ve seen an intense focus on the cost of medicines, including a Senate hearing featuring seven biopharmaceutical executives. But the conversations about medicines, like the Senate hearing, have been narrowly focused on list and net prices or on specific medicines, rather than taking a holistic view of health spending or
There has been significant focus and attention paid to the issue of drug prices in the last few years. As Adam Fein, president of Pembroke Consulting Inc. and chief executive officer of Drug Channels Institute, has said, “Drugs are 12% of the costs, but 90% of the conversation.” Fortunately, the spirited national conversation about drug
NEW YORK — Health care economists, health system leaders and policy makers have been talking seriously about measuring and paying for value in health care for more than a decade. Hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and practitioners across the country now are starting to move in that direction, incentivized since 2015 by Medicare’s adoption of alternative care
One of the great paradoxes in medicine today is the reality that drug prices are rising at the lowest level in years, yet both patients and employers are feeling more of a squeeze on drug costs than ever before. Ironically both of these trends — slowing growth, rising pain at the pharmacy counter — have
