About pharma
Illinois law caps insulin patient costs at $100 monthly: “Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law Friday capping monthly insulin costs at $100 for people covered by state-regulated commercial health insurance plans.”
A National Survey of the Frequency of Drug Company Detailing Visits and Free Sample Closets in Practices Delivering Primary Care: Lots of caveats attached to the results but the practices that are more likely to see drug reps are smaller, independent practices in the South. The same characteristics apply to sampling practices. See also the accompanying commentary that reviews the evidence about pharma costs and detailing.
Revisiting the National Institutes of Health Fair Pricing Condition: Promoting the Affordability of Drugs Developed With Government Support: Should the public benefit from lower drug prices when the basic research is funded with government money (grants or primary development at the NIH)? “In 1989, the U.S. Public Health Service—the parent organization of the NIH—incorporated a fair pricing condition into its model cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA), which allows private institutions to work with government agencies and negotiate exclusive licenses for inventions stemming from such work. However, the NIH removed this condition 5 years later, with the then–NIH director claiming it chilled government–industry collaboration.” But this paper shows the “chilling” did not take place. Perhaps it is time to look at this model again?
For years, Finland has had a successful model to fund private innovation, including healthcare ventures in biotech. The organization, now known as Business Finland, was started in 1983 to fund the country’s startups with non recourse loans/investments. If the business is successful, the government will get a return on its investment.
About healthcare IT
Survey: 3 out of 5 Americans want stronger privacy protections: Americans want access to their medical data but are still very concerned about privacy.