The Cameron InstituteThere’s no truth to the link between innovative pharmaceuticals and the sustainability of healthcare spending.
Most growth in both levels and rates of increases in healthcare spending is centred around increased utilization due to aging, less healthy populations, economic growth, and the growth in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (utilization); the adoption of newer, better therapies/technologies without ridding ourselves of older, less effective therapies/technologies (redundancies); and growing healthcare human resource costs both aggregate and per unit (labour). This is borne out in OECD’s 2016 health statistics.
Based upon the facts, innovative pharmaceuticals are the least threat to the sustainability of health spending. We totally agree that continued – if not accelerated – innovation is desired in meeting the health needs of patients around the world. To ensure a continued stream of innovation, research-based pharmaceutical companies need to retain their incentives to invest in the research and development of treatments for rare diseases, targeted cancers, and diseases most prevalent in the poorest of countries.
