To the Editor:
I spent 34 years in the pharmaceutical industry, with most of my time being in marketing. The question about pharmaceutical pricing is again hitting the news. Why does Canada and many other countries have lower prices for many drugs? The answer is a one Payor system. So, when you have multiple drugs that are very similar, the Canadian government puts those drugs out to bid and winner takes all. A good example is 15 years ago when there were multiple statins, all of which were still on patent. Mevacor, Zocor, Lipitor and Crestor. The government said we will only carry one so they individual companies bid and the winner saw sales of about $200 million while the other 3 had $0 sales. The VA in the U.S. did the same thing. Zocor won and every VA patient with few exceptions was started on Zocor.
The U.S. has an incredibly fragmented and complicated payor system with many hands in the pie. If you lose the VA bid as did Lipitor, you can easily make up that loss in one of the other sectors. of course, this is only one small piece of the puzzle. As consumers we would have to sacrifice choice. We would have to allow more government control. We would have to deny access to very expensive drugs until they brought the price down. Big business understands $$$$. Until they are hit in the pocket book, nothing will change.
Gene Guerriero
Village of Mallory Square