From today's edition of the New York Times:
Lowering Drug Prices
To the Editor:
Pegging drug prices to health outcomes is a smart way to lower health care costs (“Drug Deals Tie Prices to How Well Patients Do,” Business Day, April 23). It’s also a patient-centric way of determining which drugs are worth the money.
In Britain, New Zealand and elsewhere, government officials determine which drugs are worth the cost. These officials are under constant pressure to arrive at conclusions that lead to lower government spending, so patients are routinely denied access to expensive, cutting-edge medicine.
Tying drug prices to patient performance is a model worth expanding. Tying drug prices to the whims of budget analysts heartlessly endangers lives.
Peter Pitts
New York, April 23, 2009
The writer is president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and a former associate commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
Lowering Drug Prices
To the Editor:
Pegging drug prices to health outcomes is a smart way to lower health care costs (“Drug Deals Tie Prices to How Well Patients Do,” Business Day, April 23). It’s also a patient-centric way of determining which drugs are worth the money.
In Britain, New Zealand and elsewhere, government officials determine which drugs are worth the cost. These officials are under constant pressure to arrive at conclusions that lead to lower government spending, so patients are routinely denied access to expensive, cutting-edge medicine.
Tying drug prices to patient performance is a model worth expanding. Tying drug prices to the whims of budget analysts heartlessly endangers lives.
Peter Pitts
New York, April 23, 2009
The writer is president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and a former associate commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
