Is this a LAST PUSH for the generic industry to cement their place on formularies of PBM and “nose out” brand name meds ? About 10%-12% of all meds provide the funding for new med Research and Development.  Who is going to pay for any/all R&D going forward and/or how expensive are new meds going to be ?  Here is a recently approved new med for Alzheimer that reportedly has questionably efficiency and the cost is > $1000 PER WEEK ! the approval of Biogen Inc.’s controversial Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab — science took a back seat    With Pharmacogenomics (PGx) becoming a “go to test” to help determine what med is best for a pt…  This JAMA study was about “cost effectiveness”… Just what is “cost effectiveness”… is a 5%-10% improvement in QOL sufficient improvement … when the more appropriate – higher cost med – would produce a much higher improvement in a pt’s QOL.

Bang for the buck in Part D

https://ncpa.org/newsroom/qam/2021/06/21/qam-ad-bang-buck-part-d

A recent JAMA study showed that a substantial proportion of 2016 Medicare Part D spending was for drugs with absent or low-quality cost-effectiveness analyses. This could present a challenge in efforts to develop policies addressing drug spending in terms of value. The study looked at 250 drugs with the greatest Medicare Part D spending in 2016. No cost-effectiveness analyses were available for 46 percent of those drugs, which represented 33 percent of Medicare Part D spending. For the remaining 54 percent, many did not meet minimum quality standards. In short, more cost-effectiveness research is needed to be sure that expensive drugs, where cheaper alternatives exist, are worth their price

Filed under: General Problems