In a March 6, 2011 report in the New York Times by Duff Wilson he writes about the pending problems for pharmaceutical companies with expiring patents. He cites reasons like lack of new breakthroughs, pressure to hold down prices, and regulatory hurdles.
What he fails to put into context is how this issue fits in with the entire Health Care Cost problem. As I wrote in my overview report, the reason these companies were able to produce all these great drugs was that we had a system that encouraged unlimited spending on new technologies because whatever was invented could be sold at any price, since the people paying for it like the government and employers, were not the people using it.
If I were writing this story, I would not only mention the pressures to hold down prices, but I would explain how companies like Pfizer benefited from years of a system that gave them a blank check for R&D and how that helped create the great medical technologies that are now available. I would also convey how these great products contributed to the unaffordable health care system we have today. Thus, as a result of incredible products that became unaffordable, those paying for medical care like the government and employers were forced to put in place benefit and control systems that increase the risk for companies to spend money on R&D. Drug companies don’t have many new products and advances that improve medical care will slow down.
However, I do believe that sensible reform legislation as I recommended in my overview to bring transparency and free market forces into the health care system will be better for all of us, including the medical industry, and result in better care and products.
