Pharma's Bizarre Pricing Shrug
The pressure for lower prices has only just begun.
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The drug industry is in denial about the seriousness of its pricing problem.
Throughout this autumn, as the issue of drug pricing erupted from a long-simmering controversy into a full-blown headache, pretty much every CEO of note in biotech and pharma had to address the subject, and their tone was largely defensive and dismissive. There were vague promises of moderation, and readings from whatever aged grimoire (or trade group slide deck) pharma execs find their near-identical pricing arguments. But there was precious little acknowledgement that the industry might actually need to change.