From $30 to $3,800 Per Month: Falmouth Senior With Rheumatoid Arthritis Testifies About Hardships Caused by Prescription Price Spike
In 1998, when the RA drug Enbrel came to market, she was one of the first in
For many years, her employer's health insurance covered Enbrel at a cost to her that never exceeded
As Chairman of the
Prescription drugs are vital to the health and well-being of Americans, especially our nation's seniors, 90 percent of whom take at least one prescription drug in any given month. For many Americans, access to affordable prescription drugs is not only critical for health, but also can be literally a matter of life or death.
Developing these medicines is a lengthy, expensive, and uncertain process. It often takes more than a decade to bring a new drug from the laboratory to the market; the process is often very costly, and most drugs fail during testing.
If we want new medicines to reach consumers who need them, the companies that invest in the research and take the risks necessary to develop these drugs must see a fair return on their investment.
At the same time, we cannot be blind to the costs of these drugs, nor to cases where patent laws are manipulated to preserve monopolies. Americans are expected to spend more than
For example, the price of Humira, a self-administered drug approved at the end of 2002 to treat RA, has risen from about
Similarly, Enbrel's main patent has expired, yet the drug remains protected by at least two other "submarine" patents nearly 20 years after it was first approved. According to a
Treating rheumatoid arthritis costs the
I am committed to promoting innovation while improving access and affordability of prescription medications for patients, particularly for the 90 percent of our nation's seniors who take prescription drugs. Last year, following the Aging Committee's initial investigation, a bill that I authored to improve generic competition and lower the cost of prescription drugs was signed into law as part of the FDA Reauthorization Act.
The challenge we must meet was summed up by
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