To place the current drug price debate into historical context, the authors searched the New York Times and Wall Street Journal from 1985 – 2015 and found that concerns about drug prices have commonly featured in the press over the 30-year study period with recently stronger calls for change.
The primary points that have changed in the media debate over 30 years fall into the following four categories: price levels, types of innovations, stakeholder responses, and strategies to address high prices.
Examples of increases in drug prices are not hard to find. In the late 1980s, high drug prices centered on the novel AIDS treatment zidovudine (AZT) costing $10,000 per patient per year. But recently, prices have reached a new high. The drug ivacaftor (Kalydeco) for cystic fibrosis is priced upward of $300,000 per patient per year.
With regard to types of innovations, the increased introduction of orphan medicines and targeted treatments -- both high-cost endeavors – is another point in the media debate.
In the 1980’s, patients prompted the pharmaceutical industry to lower the price of the first high-priced HIV drug. Nowadays, patients are not the only stakeholders. Other stakeholders include clinicians, insurers, lawmakers, and politicians, all of whom are taking action against high drug prices.
Different strategies to cope with high-priced medicines have been suggested by industry, federal government agencies, payers, patients, and experts. Some of these strategies suggest mandated drug price discounts for Medicare Part D, importing of lower-priced drugs from abroad, and legal changes to allow for price negotiations.
The authors believe that the recent groundswell of opinion regarding high drug prices, as well as a changing environment, constitutes a “watershed moment” for legal and policy innovations that provide payers the tools to ensure patient access to effective treatments at affordable prices while continuing to incentivize much-needed innovations.
For true change, they believe all stakeholders need to act in concert to develop strategies that ensure investment in R&D and guarantee long-term affordable access to new treatments.