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Pharma Blog Watch

September 4, 2012
Driving Up the Cost of Rx Drugs (World of DTC Marketing blog)
Following a “lively” conversation from a recent LinkedIn post on prescription drug pricing, blogger Rich Meyer digs deeper into why the costs can be so high.
  • The number of Americans living with cancer will increase by nearly a third to almost 18 million by 2022;
  • By 2030, about 42 percent of Americans will be obese, which is up from about 36 percent presently; and
  • Thirty-four percent of American adults take at least one prescription drug, 11.5 percent take three or more prescription drugs and 6.5 percent take four or more prescription drugs.

“It costs billions of dollars to invent new medicines for heart disease, cancer or diabetes,” Meyer writes. “The reality is that the pharmaceutical business is in the grip of rising failure rates and rising costs.” The increased cost of prescription drugs is keeping the industry afloat. “Countries that have price controls on the cost of drugs are driving lower R&D and thus they have a lower chance of developing new drugs, which are primarily developed in the U.S.,” Meyer adds.