For Dana Malick, deputy vice president of state advocacy for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), making sure prescription drugs are affordable for patients is a top priority.
In this edition of “What They’re Watching,” taken during our Colorado conference in November, Malick said her organization is closely monitoring recent policy pursuits in the state that aim to make medications less costly. She says it’s important to determine if these policies (namely the Prescription Drug Affordability Board and the Canadian drug importation program) achieve the cost reduction goals they set out to accomplish.
She said PhRMA will be supporting policy that ensures the cost savings from rebates on prescription drugs are passed through to consumers. She said recently passed legislation “started the conversation” about this topic, but it didn’t allow rebates to be passed through to consumers if it affect premiums.
“So [that’s] sort of the balloon predicament that we always face when we’re looking at healthcare policy and how to lower costs. If you squeeze the balloon in one area, do costs go up in another?
And I think as an industry, what we’re really advocating for … is that there’s more transparency in who is keeping those rebates in the supply chain, and really have an ongoing discussion about those rebates eventually making their way to the consumer at the point of sale so that the consumer is paying the net price of the drug, not the list price.”