Video: Facts about the Cost and Value of Prescription Drugs

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhYi2ZGj06E?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

April 4, 2018

When it comes to the cost of prescription drugs, there’s much more to consider than the sticker price alone. New research by the Goldwater Institute shows why both costs and benefits of medication need to be considered when we look at the price of medicine.

Dr. Rafael Fonseca of the Goldwater Institute is a practicing hematologist and oncologist specializing in multiple myeloma. He has seen first hand the value of new medication, and in this new video he explains why results need to be factored into the cost equation.

“When I started practicing, we would look at patients and say that on the average they would have about two to three years of an expected survival post-diagnosis.” Dr. Fonseca explains. “It’s not unusual for patients now to live in the excess of eight to ten years. And in fact I always argue publicly that there’s a small fraction of patients with this condition that are now cured, and it’s mostly because of the availability of these tools.”

Dr. Fonseca discusses cost vs. value in the video, above. For an in-depth look at the issue, read his paper, Cost vs. Value and the Price of Innovation in Cancer Care: Oral Anticancer Drugs in Multiple Myeloma, as a Case Study.

You can read more facts about the cost and value of prescription drugs here.