[November 18, 2015] |
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BIO Releases Seven Proposed Topics for HHS Forum on Pharmaceutical Innovation, Access, Affordability and Better Health
Today, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) released a list of
seven proposed topics for the November 20th U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) Forum on Pharmaceutical Innovation,
Access, Affordability and Better Health. The consideration of these
topics at the Forum will help to ensure that patients have access to the
most innovative new treatments and cures.
These topics have been shared with HHS and with the committees of
jurisdiction in the U.S. House and Senate in the hope that they help
facilitate a fruitful dialogue at the Forum.
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Innovation Ecosystem: Of the
approximately 1,200 biopharma companies in the United States, more
than 90 percent of these enterprises do not earn a profit - yet they
are on the frontlines in the search for the new cures and therapies
that continue to transform modern medicine. According to the
BioMedTracker Clinical Trial database, there are approximately 5,070
clinical programs in Phase I, Phase II, or Phase III for medicines
being developed by companies world-wide. Seventy percent of the
clinical pipeline is attributed to small, emerging companies. These
companies also are pursuing the next generation of innovation,
including major advances in gene therapy, immunotherapy and RNAi
therapy. How can we ensure that the rest of the health care ecosystem
(e.g., health insurers, hospitals, providers) is keeping pace with
these innovative entrepreneurs in terms of delivery of care?
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Capital Formation (News - Alert): The success of
these small biotech companies in getting new cures and therapies
across the finish line rests on one key factor: the ability to attract
the enormous amounts of private capital required to fund these
challenging and incredibly risky endeavors. This ability, in turn,
depends on a public policy environment that supports innovation and
incentivizes such investment, including continued advancement of
scientific understanding; strong intellectual property (IP) rights and
a reliable system for IP transfer, licensing, and collaboration; an
efficient and predictable regulatory review process; and transparent
payment systems that reward innovation and encourage free market
competition. Set-backs across any of these areas can cause the entire
innovation ecosystem to falter, but the challenge can be particularly
acute when it comes to capital formation. Private investment can flow
to and shift among a wide spectrum of different sectors, and investors
have shown that they will flee areas like biotechnology when they
think policy decisions could adversely impact an already risky
investment. With all of the discussion about the value of medical
innovation, how do we make sure that any action taken will not
negatively impact these small, pre-revenue innovators who are clearly
punching above their weight when it comes to doing the hard work of
bringing new cures and therapies to patients?
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Innovation Saves: Medicines
account for only about 10 percent of overall health care costs, a
figure that has remained stable for decades and that is projected by
government actuaries to remain so for at least the next decade.
Medicines also can produce savings in other areas of the health care
system. That's why the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
credits each dollar of additional spending on medicines with a twenty
cent reduction in other healthcare expenses (e.g., reduction in stays
in hospitals and nursing homes). How do we find savings and
efficiencies in the other 90 percent of our nation's health care
spending? In addition, critics talk about money spent on medicine as
if it is a bad thing (even though the U.S. is significantly lower than
the European Union and other countries when it comes to the percentage
of healthcare costs spent on medicines). Since increased utilization
of new medicines is decreasing hospital stays and the need for
expensive surgeries, shouldn't we be encouraging this type of
innovation and allocation of resources? Isn't it money well spent in
terms of both a patient's well-being and our nation's long-term health
care costs?
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Patient Out-of-Pocket Costs:
Ensuring that patients have access to the innovative medicines their
doctors prescribe is critical to the treatment of diseases. One area
this forum should explore is the extent to which out-of-pocket fees
charged by insurance companies are denying working families access to
innovative new medicines their doctors think will help improve or even
save their lives. In addition, the forum should explore why insurance
companies will pay for almost all of a life-saving surgery, but they
make a patient pay an excessive out-of-pocket share of the cost for a
life-saving medicine.
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Access to Innovation: People buy
insurance to protect the important things in their lives: our homes,
our car, our health. We expect that when something terrible happens
the insurance policies we pay for will help cover these expenses. Yet,
the health insurance industry routinely denies access and payment for
certain cures and therapies for diseases. Are there policies that we
should be considering that will ensure that insurance actually helps
patients get access to the drugs and therapies that their doctors
believe will be the best course of treatment for their disease?
Additionally, the forum could explore the impact that proposed rate
hikes by insurance companies will have on the ability of patients to
afford the type of coverage they need. According to news reports,
health insurance companies around the country are seeking rate
increases of 20 percent to 40 percent or more. One of the areas the
forum should explore is the impact this will have on patients' ability
to access the innovative medicines that they need.
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Patient Assistance Programs:
Biopharmaceutical companies' Patient Assistance Programs provide
hundreds of millions of dollars of free and reduced-price treatments
and therapies for patients who cannot afford their products. What are
private insurance companies, including AARP/UnitedHealthcare's
supplemental insurance policies, doing to help patients who cannot
afford their insurance products or the co-pays they charge to patients?
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Insurer Consolidation: There is
consolidation happening across the insurance industry. This is
benefiting shareholders and giving insurance industry executives even
more bargaining power and leverage, but this is happening at the
expense of patients' bargaining power. Just last week the American
Medical Association came out against several of these mergers in a
letter to the Department of Justice. It raised serious questions about
the impact of consolidation on access, quality and affordability for
patients. What can be done to protect patients during this wave of
consolidation?
For more information about the value of innovative medicines, please
visit bio.org/innovation.
About BIO
BIO is the world's largest trade association representing biotechnology
companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and
related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other
nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of
innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental
biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO
International Convention, the world's largest gathering of the
biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and
partnering meetings held around the world. BIOtechNOW
is BIO's blog chronicling "innovations transforming our world" and the
BIO Newsletter is the organization's bi-weekly email newsletter. Subscribe
to the BIO Newsletter.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151118006604/en/
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