WHAT”S GOING ON: DTC TV ads aren’t working. There are too many barriers to get people to ask for or switch to new treatments. Even with improved benefits, most patients are willing to stay with the status quo. As healthcare comes under intense pressure to reduce costs DTC budgets could get whacked.
SUMMARY: According to a new report from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review released on Tuesday, combined price hikes from seven drugs, in 2017 and 2018, contributed to a $5.1 billion increase in U.S. spending. None of those drugs had new important evidence to support the price increase, the study concluded. Why is this happening?
SUMMARY: Via Business Insider “CEOs have for decades chanted the mantra of shareholder supremacy and placed cost-cutting and short-term profits above all else. That mindset, however, just might be changing.” It might be changing in other industries but within pharma, the mindset is still “short term balance sheet”.
SUMMARY: “The pharmaceutical industry is now the most poorly regarded industry in Americans’ eyes, ranking last on a list of 25 industries that Gallup tests annually.” We need to step up and fix this. Hire people who care about patients and replace CEO’s whose only concern is Wal Street and stock prices.
SUMMARY: Via STAT news “top pharmaceutical CEOs have targeted a small group of Republican senators with roughly $200,000 in campaign donations in the past year”. No matter what you read it’s about sales and Wall Street, not patients.
SUMMARY: The corporate culture at J&J has led to a lot of wrongdoing followed by fines, but these penalties are just a small expense line item for them.
SUMMARY: Change is coming to healthcare. Its become too profitable, and too many people are seeing raises eaten by rising insurance premiums. Despite all this, we, as a country, continue to ignore the fact that Americans are overeating, don’t exercise and then expect our health problems to go away with a little pill.
KEY SUMMARY: For years, businesses have responded to rising health care costs primarily by shifting more of those costs onto their employees, through higher deductibles and other cost-sharing. The average deductible is now 212% higher than it was in 2008. Employers cover more people than any other insurer and account for about 20% of all health care spending — almost $700 billion in 2017. With rising, costs companies may decide to form their own health insurance organizations.