Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com February 29, 2016 • Worcester Business Journal 13 >> H E A LT H Y B U S I N E S S . March 19-April 16, 2016 Join us for the opening reception March 18 ArtsWorcester Worcester Center for Crafts 660 Main Street 25 Sagamore Road 6:00-8:00 pm 5:30-7:30 pm Awards, donated by Davis Art Gallery, will be announced at both galleries at 6:30 pm. ! Worcester Center for Crafts A collaboration to exhibit the next generation of regional artists WBJ 1-4 b page_NOW! quarter 2/3/16 1:26 PM Page 1 The Guild of St. Agnes believes in "Tomorrow!" We change lives and build stronger futures! We know Annie will deliver the heartfelt message of goodness, hope and family– the values The Guild supports. The Guild is the Largest Child Care Agency in Central Massachusetts serving 1600 children. CONTACT US TODAY AT: 888-798-4567 ext. 22 www.guildofstagnes.org Playbill ad_Layout 1 2/11/16 5:30 PM Page 1 0 $100M $200M $300M $400M $500M 0 3% 6% 9% 12% 15% Total prescription spending % change from previous year 6.5% $435M 14.8% $139M '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10 '11 '12 '13 '14 '15 '19 '18 '16 '17 '20 * Projected Prescription drug spending Nationwide spending on pharmaceuticals more than doubled between 2000 and 2013 and is expected to nearly double again by 2020. Source: The Office of the Actuary in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services businesses and patients, she said, and the drug companies need to be doing their part. "It seems the attitude is, 'How much can the market bare, and what can we get away with?'" Pellegrini said. "Drugs are much cheaper in other parts of the world, and I think pharma has a lot to explain for why residents of the U.S. pay so much more for drugs than other parts of the world." Attorney General Healey caused a stir when she called out a relatively new hepatitis C drug that costs $84,000 for a full course of treatment. The drug Sovaldi from Gilead Sciences costs $1,000 per pill in the United States and rough- ly $10 in Egypt and $4 in India. Healey said her office will be investigating whether the pric- ing constitutes an unfair trade practice in violation of Massachusetts law. "Our office has concerns anytime there are significant obstacles in the way of patients getting the medi- cation they need," said Healey. "We need to balance the costs of research and development while making these life- saving drugs more accessible to people." A number of drug companies were asked to comment for this story, but they all declined to speak on the record. Industry impacts Robert Coughlin, the president and CEO of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council that represents the life sciences industry in the state, is concerned that these kinds of discussions over pricing, and possible restrictions on the pricing for novel drugs, could stifle a growing industry in Massachusetts. The payers need to understand that the true price for these drugs can't be calculated in the same way as pills that get rid of symptoms, Coughlin said. "We're not making me-too drugs. We're looking at cures for diseases," Coughlin said. Those cures bring with them a cost, he said, but at a cost that is far less than the long-term prospects of treating someone with a disease. The drug companies are in the pro- cess of developing and have developed true treatments for conditions that lead to no care being needed in the future, Coughlin said.. However, the current system of care can't account for this. Any government over- sight of the pricing would only serve to stifle the investments being made by companies into these treat- ments, he said. While Pellegrini is con- cerned with the actual climbing cost of drugs, her sights are set on a very simple first mea- sure: transparency. The organization is currently pushing for more transparen- cy at the state level through a prescrip- tion drug transparency bill that is before the Massachusetts Senate. If the drug companies open up their process to public and regulatory scru- tiny, it would likely drive down prices, she said. This additional scrutiny is something the drug companies have set themselves up for, O'Sullivan said. For years, com- panies have been saying that the cost of their drugs comes from the need to reinvest in new products. Now, compa- nies are being called out and asked to show their cards. "Pharma and biotech cannot curl up in a ball and just say, 'No.' There has to be a joint solution to this problem," he said. n Kevin O'Sullivan president and CEO, Massachusetts Biomedical Initiative

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