Drug Pricing ‘Opacity,’ Degrees Of Transparency Debated By National Academies Panel

10 Jan 2017

• By Cole Werble

Second meeting of National Academies drug pricing committee was far-reaching discussion of several major themes, including PBM transparency, the political future for co-pay coupons and the next possible inflection point: the potential $1 million price tag for gene therapies.

The lack of transparency on prescription drug pricing and the “opacity” of the revenue flow generated by high list prices were major themes of the second open meeting of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) ad hoc committee on patient access to affordable drug therapies in Washington, DC on Dec. 13.

The 18-member committee was chartered by the National Academies (formerly known as the Institute of Medicine) and is working toward...