Why do drugs cost so much? And what can we do about it?

 

I have written before about the cost of drugs, and I recently was asked to give (and gave) a talk on the topic to a group of neurologists subspecializing in neuromuscular diseases (such as ALS, myasthenia gravis, muscular dystrophy).

There is a lot to say, as the outrageous profiteering of pharmaceutical companies seems to know no bounds, and the stories come out day. The outline for the talk is:

u  Drugs cost a lot in the US

u  Why drugs cost a lot in the US

u  Examples of drugs illustrating different ways of charging a lot

u  Neurological and Neuromuscular Drugs

u  Impact on patients

u  What can doctors do?

u  How could the whole problem be fixed?

 

Rather than reprise the content here, I thought I would just post the slides from the talk to the blog (found on the right, under Links to Documents in Google Docs) and encourage anyone interested to look them over. 

Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1kDFFHpZpwK58WRhuTkKPMBflfkjwvXHe/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108196900244678484854&rtpof=true&sd=true