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March 24, 2020 Price and Costs

SAN FRANCISCO – As prescription drug pricing and accessibility has become a greater topic of discussion during the current coronavirus pandemic, a new series of animated videos launched today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the Pacific Research Institute aims to guide Americans through the “drug pricing maze”. The new series will educate viewers on how the current drug pricing system is fueled by misguided policies that drive up costs, and how free-market reforms would steer us toward...

March 23, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Innovation

As the United States ramps up rapid testing for the coronavirus, the results will surely show a sharp uptick in the number of cases of coronavirus-caused COVID-19. Those tested will learn whether they are infected, but, paradoxically, the public – and public health officials – will not know whether the overall results are encouraging or discouraging, because the rates of the coronavirus infectivity and mortality will remain poorly understood. The existing tests will not identify the potentially large numbers of people who were...

March 23, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Policy Proposals

As the coronavirus pandemic wreaks more and more medical and social havoc worldwide, we need to recall the observation of The Great One—no, not Dr. Tony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health—the other one, hockey player Wayne Gretzky, who said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” Anticipating what’s coming is especially important in confronting an emerging infectious disease whose dynamics and possible impacts we don’t yet know. If we react too...

March 23, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Industry Trends, Radio

Dr. Henry Miller joined the nationally-syndicated Lars Larson Show to talk about the latest updates with the coronavirus, including the rapid spread of the number of cases in the United States and across the globe and how different states have reacted to the threat of COVID-19. Miller also talks about the questionable coverage by both sides of the media on the coronavirus. ...

March 17, 2020 Blog, Policy Proposals

The costs of economic fallacies are magnified during times of crises. Unfortunately, the Trump Administration’s trade fallacies are not only threatening our economic well-being, they are now putting people’s lives at risk. It is becoming politically incorrect to recognize that the expansion of international trade has helped Americans live better, more prosperous, lives. But, that does not change the reality that Americans benefit greatly from the global economy. As Dr. Arthur Laffer explained in a 2007 speech on the pillars of Reaganomics at the...

March 17, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Industry Trends

The excellent and informative articles “Want a Test? Depends Where You Live” (The Coronavirus Pandemic, March 12) and “Don’t Jump to Conclusions” (Heard on the Street, March 11) about testing for the new coronavirus didn’t cover some important nuances. The test kits in use in the U.S. described in the articles detect viral genetic material—RNA, in the case of coronaviruses—which can be infectious material or noninfectious fragments. Once the patient has recovered and the RNA has been cleared, the tests will...

March 15, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Policy Proposals

Even for a nation as mighty, wealthy, and innovative as the United States, some problems don’t have ready solutions. Instead, we need to try to gather information, limit damage, and perform the needed course corrections. That’s where we are with the outbreak of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (the illness caused by which is designated COVID-19). There are some harsh, even frightening realities. First, we are past the point at which “containment” (the prevention of spread beyond known sources, such as travelers to China or...

March 12, 2020 Blog, Industry Trends

The New York Post last week published an article with the ominous headline, “Pharmacists quietly panicking over looming respiratory drug shortage.” The gist was that in addition to the rush on personal protection products such as face masks, hand sanitizers, disinfectants, and rubber gloves, the supply chains for various important prescription drugs, especially generics with components made in China, are fraying. This should come as no surprise. As the number of cases of infection with the novel coronavirus (formally SARS-CoV-2, with the illness it...

March 11, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Innovation

When President Trump met with drug-company executives at the White House on March 2, at the top of the agenda was the development of a vaccine to prevent COVID-19, the respiratory infection caused by the Wuhan coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (the World Health Organization’s designation for the virus). “We’ve asked them to accelerate” work, the president told reporters. As the coronavirus outbreak accelerates, with cases now found on every continent except Antarctica, and the world is hit with widespread social and economic disruption,...

March 9, 2020 Briefs, Price and Costs

Expanding the use of biosimilars to treat serious illnesses like cancer or auto-immune diseases could reduce a patient’s out-of-pocket costs by 17 percent, finds a new issue brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the Pacific Research Institute. Click here to download the study “Biologics effectively treat very serious illnesses but can often be very expensive and lead to patients incurring significant out-of-pocket costs,” said Dr. Wayne Winegarden, director of PRI’s Center for Medical Economics and Innovation...

March 2, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Industry Trends

Title: As U.S. Sees COVID-19 Infections Spike, Some Worry About 'Grave Errors' By Adam Smith In the beginning, the few reports of a newly discovered virus seemed inconsequential and distant. The coronavirus was causing pneumonia in scores of people, but those patients were in a faraway province of China, Hubei, that most outside that nation had never heard of. “There is no evidence that the new virus is readily spread by humans, which would make it particularly dangerous, and it has not been...

March 2, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Policy Proposals

The Green New Dealers want us to think we have to either live more austere lives under coercive government policies or destroy the planet. Opponents of their plan, the theory goes, are willing to sacrifice the environment for short-term financial prosperity for the elite few. Nothing could be further from the truth. Meeting Americans’ needs, especially those of the neediest, requires free markets that can realize and reward the benefits of technological innovations, big and small. Big innovations are those such as the...

March 2, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Industry Trends

Fractions are taught in elementary school, but adults sometimes still manage to misunderstand how they work in everyday life. I was reminded of that after President Trump’s Saturday press conference, which focused on the federal government’s response to the Wuhan coronavirus (formally SARS-CoV-2, with the illness it causes designated COVID-19). Let me explain. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the articulate, veteran director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, described at the presser how the efforts to prevent the spread—or “contain”...

February 26, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Industry Trends, Issues

CDC warns on coronavirus in US: Should you start to worry? By Madeline Farber, Fox News Federal health officials this week warned that community spread of the novel coronavirus in the U.S. is seemingly inevitable, with one Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official saying it’s no longer “a question of if, but when, and how many people in this country will have severe illness.” In the same vein, officials have maintained that the immediate threat to the public remains low. So how worried should you be?...

February 26, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Industry Trends, Issues, Radio

Dr. Henry Miller, PRI’s senior fellow for the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation, joins the John Batchelor Show to offer analysis on the search for a vaccine for the coronavirus. Dr. Miller says the United States has a steep learning curve ahead for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and talks about the latest developments from the World Health Organization.  ...

February 26, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Industry Trends, Issues, Radio

PRI's Henry Miller, M.S., M.D., joins the nationally-syndicated Lars Larson Show to discuss the latest developments in the spread of the coronavirus. Larson and Dr. Miller look at the rise of coronavirus cases in South Korea and Italy, and what the United States is doing to prepare for the impact of the pandemic. Miller's segment begins at the 47:00 minute mark. ...

February 26, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Industry Trends, Issues

The World Health Organization, a part of the United Nations, has proposed an official name, COVID-19, for the illness caused by the Wuhan coronavirus, after the city in China where it emerged. (The new designation stands for coronavirus disease 2019, as the illness was first detected toward the end of last year.) The director-general of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noted that the name was chosen “to avoid stigma”—or as the woke might say, microaggressions—thus, the new name makes no reference to...