Increase in Specialty-Drug Spending Prompts Action by Payers |
|
The Wall Street Journal recently addressed the drastic increases in expenditures for specialty-drugs over the last several years. High priced medicines to treat cancer, multiple sclerosis and other rare diseases are prompting payers to focus more of their attention on reigning in spending for some of these costly therapies. While payers have used step-therapy as a means to control costs, they are now pushing for legislation to permit generic drug companies to develop cheaper biotech drugs for cancer treatment and other diseases. It has been estimated that spending for specialty-drugs could reach $99 billion by 2010; almost double the $54 billion spent in 2006. Express Scripts, which manages drug benefits for health plans, cited that their spending for specialty-drugs increased 14% in 2007. While this is a decrease from the 21% growth the company saw in 2006, many employers and payers worry about this rapid growth in spending. There is legislation pending in Congress that could possibly slow the increase in specialty-drug spending by allowing for generic biogenerics into the market but several legislators have said that "chances are slim of passing a bill [biogenerics] this presidential election year." |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
NPAF Election Center!
Do you know where each of the Presidential candidates stands on important health care issues? Would you like to attend a candidate event and support health care access issues? Visit the NPAF Election Center for candidate information and health care proposals.
