Amsterdam 2015
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| Abstract #2194 - Costing the epidemic | ||||
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Session: 9.2: Costing the epidemic (Symposium) on Wednesday @ 11.30-13.00 in 202 Chaired by Anne Cockroft, Alexander Pastoors Authors: Presenting Author: Dr Gaelle Krikorian - IRIS Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire sur les enjeux Sociaux, France |
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| Additional Authors: | ||||
| Aim: The pharmaceutical industry spends considerable amounts of money on investment in the research and development of health products. A recent publication (November 2014) by Dr Joseph DiMasi, chief economist at Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) updated its 2003 data (802 million US dollars) and estimated the cost of research and development of a new drug at 2.6 billion US dollars. These figures are commonly mentioned when justifying the extremely high cost of new medecines, notably treatment for serious illnesses such as hepatitis C, cancer, diabetes and HIV co-morbidities which cost between over 40,000 euros and 200,000 euros per course. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Research costs are anything but transparent. However, a critical analysis of these figures is possible if we take into consideration the money advanced for clinical trials, the number of people included in the trial, the cost for each patient included in the trial, the tax subsidies granted which in many countries represent 50% of the cost of clinical trials, the changes in classification of rare diseases which allows for the benefit of tax subsidies, data on public funding of research through aid, grants, supplies and researchers. If we take these factors into consideration, these figures seem inaccurate, abridged or inflated having no real connection with the costs put forward and the real cost of creating and developping a new drug. | ||||
| Results / Comments: Estimations of research costs should be more transparent and this is all the more necessary because these factors are the basis for justifying high prices. Requiring the industry to pass on basic information is necessary when public authorities fix prices of drugs and medical mechanisms covered by the health insurance system. The relevant information concerns 1) amounts used for funding reserach associated with health products 2) the actual amounts for development of the clinical trials referred to when registering health products, 3) tax subsidies, grants and other public funding which industrials benefit from in research and development activities, 4) purchasing patents associated with health products, costs of acquisitions and speculation to acquire patents, costs of producing health products. | ||||
| Discussion: Furthermore, health ministers and the European committee of public health and food safety must ensure that clear information is available on how public funding is attributed (in money, tax subsidies or in-kind contributions) in the process of developing drugs. Economic studies are necessary to clarify the situation and provide unbiased, objective analyses. | ||||
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