Commentary: We need to make sure new drug cures don’t widen the income gap for the poor, former FDA Commissioner ScottGottliebMD says. The HealthyReturns conference in NYC kicks off tomorrow! Follow cnbcevents for the latest.
Scott Gottlieb, former Commissioner of the FDAScience offers the chance to cure debilitating and once-intractable disorders like hemophilia and sickle cell disease. But we need to make sure the ability to access these therapies, or the risk that someone can be locked out of them, doesn't widen gaps between the rich and poor.
These challenges were never obvious because we never had so many looming chances to cure serious disorders. In many cases, Medicaid plans that already care for the poor will be the most constrained. This problem was shown when a cure for hepatitis C hit the market in 2014 and many Medicaid plans delayed access to the drug or rationed its use because they couldn't absorb the one-time cost of rolling out the therapy and curing their population straightaway.
The expanding promise of that innovation makes this compact more crucial. First and foremost, drugmakers need to make sure there's equitable access to effective therapies and that the destiny of a child with a debilitating disease doesn't turn on which insurance pool they're born into. Along with advances in science, we must also modernize the way we pay for the resulting therapies. This is especially true when it comes to Medicaid, where the greatest strains are felt.
This is especially relevant when it comes to treatments for inherited disorders where an initial group of people already living with the disease will immediately need the cure, along with newly diagnosed patients throughout the years. The multi-year nature of the commitment can allow drugmakers to offer states better pricing. For the states, this approach smooth's out the costs of extendingIf a new drug is introduced for the same condition and shows non-inferiority to the existing treatment, the state could have the option to end the contract early, giving drugmakers incentive to develop better treatments.
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