Genetically targeted therapies create opportunities to do business i...( nly 60% of prescriptions written produc...),Health

"In 2002, overall prescription drug spending in the U.S. was approximately $162 billion. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that up to $65 billion (or 40% of this total) may have been spent on drugs that, for one reason or another, did not help the patient get well. Pharmacogenomics only addresses some of these treatment failures--those that have genetic roots. Still, the numbers are so large that even a small improvement in targeting could save billions of dollars," said Dr. Evans,

Restructuring is contentious in any industry but it presents especially tough challenges in health care, where change presents complex ethical, social, and community concerns, the authors note. Even when change is beneficial for the industry as a whole, there can be windfall gains and losses for individual stakeholders, and prospective losers may have incentives to resist. Experience in other industries shows that daunting problems of this type can be successfully resolved. According to Dr. Evans this typically requires careful dialogue among industry stakeholders and skillful regulatory policy, to ensure that the costs and benefits of change are shared in a fair way among all industry participants.

The co-authors are members of the Indiana University Center for Bioethics and its Program in Pharmacogenomics, Ethics, and Public Policy. PEPP seeks to clarify the ethical, economic, legal, and regulatory impacts of pharmacogenomics on clinical practice, research ethics, economic and industry structure, and legal and regulatory issues. Dr. Evans directs PEPP. Dr. Flockhart is a physician and pharmacogeneticist who heads the Indiana University School of Medicine's Division of Clinical Pharmacology and whose current research and clinical trials activities focus on breast cancer. D
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Contact: Cindy Fox Aisen
caisen@iupui.edu
317-274-7722
Indiana University
21-Dec-2004