Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Cost of Health Care, Dermatology, JAMA, Rheumatology / 09.11.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Emily S. Ruiz, MD, MPH Director, High-Risk Skin Cancer Clinic, Dana Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School, Dermatology Brigham And Women's Faulkner Hospital  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Innovation in oncology has led to increased development and market entry of anticancer drugs. For example, from 2009 to 2013, the US FDA approved 51 oral and systemic anticancer drugs for 63 indications. Prices for anticancer drugs have risen faster than inflation over time, especially for older drugs, and prices in the US have largely been set by market forces rather than novelty or efficacy. Understanding the evolving cancer economic landscape requires consideration of annual and cumulative rates of change for key metrics, such as total spending, drug cost per beneficiary, out-of-pocket cost, and utilization. This study sought to weigh the proportional impacts of rising drug costs and utilization on increased Medicare Part D spending for a cohort of oral anticancer drug utilized from 2013-2017.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA / 01.11.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rena M. Conti, PhD, Associate Professor Department of Markets, Public Policy and Law Questrom School of Business Boston University Boston, MA 02215 Co-Authors: Sayeh S. Nikpay, PhD Melinda B. Buntin, PhD Vanderbilt University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The federal 340B program provides deep discounts on the acquisition cost of prescription drugs for participating hospitals and places no limits on what hospitals charge patients and insurers.  Congress intended 340B profits generated from hospital participation to subsidize the provision of safety net care for patients residing in the community. This study is the first to estimate the size of profits hospitals participating in the 340B drug discount program collect from Medicare patients for the outpatient clinic administration of prescription drugs. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Pharmacology, University of Pittsburgh / 19.02.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alvaro San-Juan-Rodriguez, PharmD Pharmacoeconomics, Outcomes and Pharmacoanalytics Research Fellow Pharmacy and Therapeutics School of Pharmacy University of Pittsburgh MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Before 2009, etanercept (Enbrel®), infliximab (Remicade®), and adalimumab (Humira®) were the only tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors approved by the FDA for rheumatoid arthritis. Subsequently, 3 therapies gained FDA approval: subcutaneous golimumab (Simponi®) in April 2009, certolizumab pegol (Cimzia®) in May 2009, and intravenous golimumab (Simponi Aria®) in July 2013. All 6 agents are brand-name drugs. Our study aimed to evaluate how the prices of existing TNF inhibitors (Enbrel®, Remicade® and Humira®) changed in response to the market entry of new TNF inhibitors.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Pharmaceutical Companies / 31.05.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “pills” by Dominique Godbout is licensed under CC BY 2.0George P. Ball PhD Operations and Decision Technologies Department Kelley School of Business, Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47405, MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We sought to examine how the intense pressure on firms to produce generic drugs more cheaply might influence product quality. We find that the greater proportion of generic drugs a firm manufactures, the more severe product recalls they experience, because of an apparent relaxation of manufacturing quality standards. Additionally, they experience fewer less severe recalls, which may also result from forces of competition. When the opportunity exists to not announce a recall that has high discretion, competition may lead firms to forgo the recall to avoid negative ramifications associated with recalls. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Heart Disease, JAMA, Pharmacology / 16.11.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Paul J. Hauptman, MD Professor Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology Health Management & Policy, School of Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We decided to evaluate the cost of generic heart failure medications after an uninsured patient of ours reported that he could not fill a prescription for digoxin because of the cost for a one month's supply: $100. We called the pharmacy in question and confirmed the pricing. At that point we decided to explore this issue more closely. We called 200 retail pharmacies in the bi-state, St. Louis metropolitan area, 175 of which provided us with drug prices for three generic heart failure medications: digoxin, carvedilol and lisinopril. We found significant variability in the cash price for these medications. Combined prices for the three drugs ranged from $12-$400 for 30 day supply and $30-$1,100 for 90 day supply. The variability was completely random, not a function of pharmacy type, zip code, median annual income, region or state. In fact, pricing even varied among different retail stores of the same pharmacy chain. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Pharmacology / 27.09.2014

Dr. Song Hee Hong PhD Associate Professor, Health Outcomes and Policy Research Dept. Clinical Pharmacy University of Tennessee Health Science Center Memphis, TN 38163MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Song Hee Hong PhD Associate Professor, Health Outcomes and Policy Research Dept. Clinical Pharmacy University of Tennessee Health Science Center Memphis, TN 38163 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Hong: Use of GDDP (generic drug discount programs) increased to 23.1% in 2010 from 3.6% of patients receiving any prescription drugs in 2007. Generic drug discount programs were more valued among the elderly, sicker and uninsured populations. The lower use of Generic drug discount programs among racial/ethnic minorities observed when the program was deployed no longer existed when the program matured. (more…)