The ethics behind the world's most expensive medication
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WH
Robert Pearl, MD, in a
KevinMD post dated
June 14, 2019, states:
With the recent
FDA approval,
Zolgensma <
Novartis AG
> became the
world's most expensive medication. Priced at $2.125 million per patient, the one-dose gene therapy is a potential life-saver for children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Now, the treatment is at the center of an intensifying debate over the
rising price of medications.
WIM
"
You cannot put a price on your child's life," said
Tina Anderson, whose son will soon celebrate his fourth birthday thanks to Novartis. Anderson joins a chorus of other moms praising the FDA's ruling. These parents believe that $2.1 million is a fair price compared to the alternative: a lifetime of paying for at-home care, ventilators and repeat hospitalizations, "all of which can add up to far more than the cost of Zolgensma."
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Good health is good business: wellness industry approaches $4.2 trillion
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WH
David K. Williams reports for
Forbes on
June 13:
As an industry sector, wellness has grown by 6.4 percent annually from 2015-2017,
according to the Global Wellness Institute
 . Wellness is now a $4.2 trillion market that is growing nearly twice as fast as the global economy (3.6 percent annually, based on
IMF data). In all, the
wellness industry represents 5.3 percent of global economic output.
WIM
"Imagine the increase to productivity, well-being and happiness of our lives if we could move from a paradigm of treating sickness to protecting our wellness states Mr. Williams. "Not only would we be running more productive businesses and leading happier lives, we'd be more profitable, too. For entrepreneurs, the news is even better when you consider the wellness industry itself."
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AMA affirms opposition to single payer in close vote
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|
WH
Shannon Muchmore reports for
Healthcare Dive on
June 12:
The
American Medical Association voted to reaffirm its opposition to a single-payer healthcare system at its annual meeting in Chicago this week, but by a relatively narrow tally of 53% in favor of opposition and 47% voting to abandon the position AMA has held for decades. AMA cast its policy votes as reaffirmation of the
ACA and its coverage expansion efforts, but expressed concerns that
Medicare for All would significantly increase federal spending.
American College of Physicians SVP for Public Policy
Bob Doherty
said on Twitter this outcome "would have been unimaginable in years past," pointing to the large contingent backing single-payer or other public options.
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| About Us |
Florida Health Industry Week in Review is published every Monday by
FHIcommunications.
Each Monday morning, we share the top healthcare headlines of the previous week and summarize
What Happened (WH) and
Why It Matters (WIM).
To learn how you can join our team of editorial contributors, contact
Jeffrey Herschler
.
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