BACK TALK DIRECTORY BY SANDER A. FLAUM OF ADVERTISERS

AbelsonTaylor 23

Arteric 13

Constant Media Cov 2 Who’s aiming for the feet? Doximity 51 Group DCA Cov 3 was amazed by a recent op-ed in the New Will this happen with cancer? And will York Times (Sept. 9, 2015) by long-time it for Alzheimer’s? Why not? ICC, an FCB Health Company 19 I pharma critic Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, who Well, we could shoot ourselves in the foot. acknowledged that sometimes we get it right. Or, more exactly, someone in our industry inVentiv Health Communications 9 Not that the article was completely favor-­ could shoot us all in the foot. I don’t need to able. Dr. Emanuel bewailed specialty drug add to the torrent of outrage that’s already inVentiv Health PR Group 47 costs while failing to mention that some been directed at . It’s quite a drugs have revolutionized treatments. He feat to be castigated by both Lifescript 29 bemoaned pricey cancer drugs that do not and . But a 700% price hike cure the disease, barely acknowledging on a 62-year-old drug? Really? Natrel 17 extended median survival times. It’s not a question of dollars. Daraprim But the shock for me was that Dr. Eman- is used so infrequently that the extra cost New England Journal of Medicine 31 uel stepped back from prior attacks on the would not have made a blip in overall drug poster child of pharma greed, Sovaldi. As he costs. The issue is the arbitrary fashion with Pace, an FCB Health Company 21 admitted: “[Some] drugs are superexpensive which Daraprim’s price was hiked. but worth it. There was an out- As we all know, the immediate Pacific Communications 15 cry over paying $1,000 per pill That 700% reaction created an issue that for Sovaldi. But it helps cure price hike threatens to erode years of prog- Palio 35 hepatitis C . . .” ress. The FDA was showing signs To which I say, Wow! If you created an that it gets it and might be will- Sentrix 5 recall the initial furor, you’d issue that ing to move beyond traditional Skipta 7 have thought that Sovaldi’s threatens approval processes. Courts are price would bankrupt the defending drug patent rights. Pay- TrialCard Cov 4 healthcare system. But man- years of ers are covering breakthroughs. aged care organizations and Our opponents would love to progress Triplefin 41 other payers were not discour- harness public outcry and reverse aged by the chorus of complaints. They did these trends. How? They could legislate caps the math. Compared with the cost of a life- on Medicare drug expenditures. They could time of managing HCV, an $84,000 price tag make price discussions part of a new drug- is not only good medicine but also cheap. approval process. They could weaken patent Payers are also accepting the new genera- protection. And that’s just a beginning. tion of cancer drugs. First, instead of viewing Let’s not play into their hands. The public drug costs in terms of therapy years, payers will never understand prescription drug Medical Marketing & Media (ISSN 0025-7354) know that for most patients, treatments will pricing. Our products will always look like is published monthly by Haymarket Media Inc., 114 be far shorter. New drugs may not offer pills that should rightfully cost pennies. But W. 26th Street, Fourth Floor, , NY, 10001. Telephone 646-638-6000, fax 646-638-6150, cures but they provide hope and often addi- we can try to better explain the costs of website www.mmm-online.com. Periodical rates tional time. Equally important, they may drug development and, when we establish paid at New York and additional mailing offices. point to more effective treatments to come. prices, seek to be as transparent as possible. Postmaster: Send address changes to Medical Marketing & Media, P.O. Box 316, Congers, NY Let’s remember that early advances in I think even Dr. Emanuel would agree. 10920, or call 800-558-1703. Copyright 2015 HIV seemed remote and slow to arrive; the by Haymarket Media, Inc. All rights reserved high prices of new drugs led to violent pro- Sander A. Flaum, MBA, is principal, Flaum under Universal and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may tests. Yet our industry ensured that patients Navigators, and executive-in-residence and be reproduced without written permission. had access to life-prolonging drugs. And, in chairman, Fordham Leadership Forum, Subscription Rates: US $148 per year; Canada time, we turned HIV from a fatal scourge Fordham University Graduate School of $178, International and Mexico $248. Single copies: US $20, all other countries $30. into a manageable disease. Business Administration.

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