Biden's Big Chance to Lower Drug Prices
Any day now, the National Institutes of Health will render a decision that will signal whether the Biden administration is serious about using all available tools to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
The NIH decision involves a prostate cancer drug called enzalutamide, marketed as Xtandi. The price of Xtandi in the U.S. is three to five times higher than in similarly situated, industrialized countries. Patients must take four pills a day to stay on track. Though prostate cancer is common, and Xtandi does not eliminate it from the body, the average U.S. listed wholesale price for a full course is an eye-popping $188,900 per year. More than half of global sales revenue from Xtandi comes from the U.S.
Even with insurance, co-pays range as high as $10,000 or more. Most Xtandi patients are on Medicare, but the high price also puts it on a private insurance tier that often requires prior authorization for use, restricting access.
Xtandi was invented due to grants from the U.S. Army and the NIH; all three of its patents disclose those funders. In the case of publicly developed drugs, under the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 the government has so-called “march-in rights” to effectively extinguish such patents if the drug is not being distributed on “reasonable terms.” After that, generic companies could market their versions and create competition on price.
Read more: https://prospect.org/health/bidens-big-chance-to-lower-drug-prices/
(American Prospect)
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