September 25, 2014
Contact: Greg Galdabini
[email protected]
703-989-0832
Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing Gains New Members
Concerned with high prescription drug prices that limit access to life-saving medicines for millions of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C patients, the Fair Pricing Coalition (FPC), the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD), and Project Inform today joined the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing, a project of the National Coalition on Health Care (NCHC).
“We are delighted to become a member of the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing as part of our ongoing fight against alarming prescription drug pricing and our advocacy for more and better drug company access programs for HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) drugs” said FPC spokesperson Lynda Dee. “Stakeholders need to work together to combat unsustainable prescription drug costs. Gilead’s recent pricing of its new HCV drug Sovaldi at $1000 per pill is a prime example of drug pricing run riot and is the cause of untold access issues for people with both government and commercial insurance coverage. The time is now for us to come together to turn the tide of unreasonable drug pricing.”
“NASTAD is joining the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing as part of our ongoing efforts to ensure that everyone needing access to life-saving medications can get them, particularly those in public payer programs or without insurance” said NASTAD Executive Director Julie Scofield. “We believe this can be accomplished through stakeholder partnerships, and in fact, we have seen successes where this has occurred. But the alarming trend of ever-increasing prices and greater access restrictions threatens these successes. We must reverse this tide in order to continue to see progress in ending the HIV and HCV epidemics.”
Project Inform is pleased to join the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing given our commitment to ensuring that people with HIV and HCV can access affordable medications,” said Project Inform Executive Director Dana Van Gorder. “Working in coalition with other organizations is key to addressing the current drug pricing and drug access crisis in the United States. We have the tools to end the HIV and HCV epidemics in the United States. Ensuring that people living with HIV and HCV have access to the medications they need is critical to achieving that mission.”
“Sovaldi is just the first in a coming wave of exorbitantly priced specialty drugs that could bankrupt our health care system,” said NCHC President and CEO and John Rother. “Our system cannot afford prices that threaten to bust state health care budgets, divert funds away from critical health care needs, and force consumers to have to decide between paying for their medicines or their mortgage. We welcome the Fair Pricing Coalition, NASTAD, and Project Inform in our effort to ensure that pharmaceutical innovation achieves maximum impact though affordability and accessibility.”
The issue of unsustainable drug pricing, especially that for “specialty drugs,” is escalating. Seventy percent of new FDA drug approvals in 2013 were specialty drugs, and one estimate notes that by 2020, spending on specialty drugs will quadruple from $87 billion to more than $400 billion. This continued growth in spending is putting significant upward pressure on premiums in the private marketplace as well as in public programs including Medicare and Medicaid
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The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing aims to spark a national dialogue about the need to find market-based solutions to the problems caused by the onslaught of new high-priced prescription medicines. www.csrxp.org
The Fair Pricing Coalition (FPC) has been fighting against unreasonable prescription drug pricing and continual price increases and advocating for more and better drug company access programs for HIV drugs since 1999 and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) drugs since 2010. www.fairpricingcoalition.org
The National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) represents the nation’s chief state health agency staff who have programmatic responsibility for administering HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis healthcare, prevention, education, and supportive service programs funded by state and federal governments. www.nastad.org
Project Inform is a nonprofit education and advocacy organization that believes it is possible to create the first generation free of HIV and HCV within the next decade. To achieve that dream, Project Inform focuses in four areas: drug development, bio-medical prevention, education, and health care access. Project Inform encourages the development of better treatments and cures for both HIV and HCV; advocates for innovative, medically-based prevention strategies; provides up-to-date, life-saving information to help people living with HIV and HCV make the best choices regarding their treatment and care; and presses governments to set policies and assure unlimited access to affordable health care that will one day end the HIV and HCV epidemics. www.projectinform.org