Learning more about how the industry functions has been even
more eye opening to me. I was already one to advocate for pharma and already be
interested in pursuing a career in the pharma world. There is a tight blockade
still yet, between the public, which slightly includes myself, and what is
really going on behind closed doors with incentives, propaganda, etc … versus
the reality unknown to me.
There are more than two sides to the coin with this one. In
other words, it’s not black or white. From my stand point and from what I know
through colleagues who work in the industry, I can see why the costs can be so
high in drug development and when it first hits the market. With all of the
money it takes to just get a drug up and running for phases one through four, I
can justify the price of prescriptions at first patent. However, at the same
time, it is also hard for me to justify pricing for prescription drugs when a
patient is not able to afford the ones that they need to improve their quality
of life.
I remember when someone close to me had breast cancer, and
at the time the anti-nausea medicine that she needed with her chemotherapy was
only covered by insurance for a certain quantity. What insurance covered was
the bare minimum, so anything past what was covered cost more than three
hundred dollars per pill. Thanks to the community pharmacist at the time, who
was very adamant and not backing down with the insurance company, managed to
get her the amount that she really needed. Not everybody is granted this grace.
This is such a compelling thing to witness first hand that the cost of
prescriptions, for those who are in dire need, can seem inflated to the ceiling
and completely unaffordable.
The hard part for me, for which I feel I may always struggle
with, unless I work in the industry and see the flip side with my own eyes, is
the question of: is the high cost of one pill justifiable? For now, that is
still something that I will continue to sit with, continue to follow up as best
I can and hopefully gain the opportunity to see things from the other side of
the fence in hopes of some sense of closure to this issue.
No comments:
Post a Comment