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October 28, 2024 Briefs, Innovation, Price and Costs, Studies

READ THE PDF Executive Summary Since 2019, biosimilars have obtained a majority share of most markets where they compete. The combination of lower prices (both biosimilar and originator) and rising market share could have generated up to $35 billion in savings in 2024 dollars compared to an all-originator baseline based on PRI’s latest analysis. These savings demonstrate that, just like with small molecule medicines, biosimilars strike a beneficial balance between incentivizing innovation and promoting affordability. Lower-cost Biosimilars Are Gaining Market Share The share...

October 23, 2024 Issues, Multimedia, Policy Proposals, Radio

“On the other side of the political spectrum is Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D., the Senior Fellow in Business and Economics at Pacific Research Institute, and Director of PRI’s Center for Medical Economics and Innovation. “He and his colleagues believe that patients are not in control of the health care system and that we suffer from an opaque and complex pricing structure that harms patients. “Winegarden’s free market approach means he advocates for doing away with the Obamacare subsidies that Congress must consider, as...

October 9, 2024 Innovation, Multimedia, Policy Proposals, Price and Costs

Low-cost biosimilars generated $19 billion in savings value in today’s dollars in 2023. But obstacles in the current drug pricing system meant that billions of dollars in potential savings were left unrealized. Join the Pacific Research Institute’s Center for Medical Economics and Innovation and panel of experts for a brief, informative webinar discussing how potential reforms can improve competition, generate more savings, and better serve patients and taxpayers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m7lNXr_dAw...

October 1, 2024 Briefs, Innovation, Studies

READ THE PDF Executive Summary In the competitive biologic markets, biosimilars have reduced average prices by 56 percent. The lower prices have reduced total expenditures by 51 percent in the competitive biologic markets even though total use is higher. Developing biosimilars is a long and costly endeavor that can take up to 9 years and $300 million. Market conditions should encourage uptake and appropriate reimbursement for physicians and manufacturers. Biologics – innovative medicines made, or derived, from biological processes – treat devastating...

July 25, 2024 Briefs, Studies

SACRAMENTO – A new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute finds that artificially low reimbursement rates used by Medicare to contain costs are threatening patient care, and reform is needed to prevent future doctor shortages. Click to download the brief “Price controls used by government-run health care systems globally to contain costs lead to delays, lower quality, and worse health outcomes,” said Dr. Wayne Winegarden, director of PRI’s Center for Medical...

June 11, 2024 Briefs, Innovation, Resources, Studies

A new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute provides the latest evidence that biosimilar competition is saving patients billions – and additional competition would increase savings even more. Click to download the brief From 2019-2023, patients saved $15 billion from biosimilar competition.  Had there been competition during the same period for two other biologics, Humira and Enbrel, patients would have saved another $13 billion, for a total of $28 billion. “The growing...

May 8, 2024 Briefs

SACRAMENTO – A new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute analyzes a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study cited by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) to justify drug price controls, finding it was deeply flawed and would put patients at risk of losing access to cutting-edge medications if implemented. Click to download “Sen. Sanders uses a flawed analysis to promote price controls on innovative drugs, which would  jeopardize the health...

March 6, 2024 Briefs, CoronaVirusSlide3, Issues

The current federal regulatory process to develop monoclonal antibodies to treat mutating strains of COVID-19 imposes unnecessary hurdles that hinder the creation and approval of effective treatments for the immunocompromised, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. Click to download the brief “Monoclonal antibodies provided benefits to vulnerable populations and six different ones were authorized to treat COVID-19,” said Dr. Wayne Winegarden, director of PRI’s Center for Medical Economics...

February 7, 2024 Briefs, Studies

SACRAMENTO – Fixing the current broken system that incentivizes pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to enact policies that benefit themselves and insurers at the expense of patients would lead to lower patient drug costs, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. Click to download the brief “The current system incentivizes PBMs to implement policies that benefit insurers and themselves, while making drugs less affordable and available,” said Dr. Wayne Winegarden,...

October 5, 2023 Coronavirus, Coronavirus Multimedia, Multimedia

Listen to Dr. Wayne Winegarden, PRI senior fellow in business and economics and director of PRI's Center for Medical Economics and Innovation, discuss his new brief "No Solutions, Only Tradeoffs," which explores how the small health benefits generated by state COVID-19 lockdowns were more than offset by huge losses in education and the economy. TheLarsLarsonShow · Dr Wayne Winegarden Did Covid Restrictions Wreck Our Economy For Nothing...

September 26, 2023 Briefs, Coronavirus-Alternate2, Issues, Resources, Studies

SACRAMENTO – States that had more invasive COVID-19 restrictions saw small reductions in COVID-19 infection and mortality rates, but saw large negative impacts on employment, economic growth, and children’s education outcomes, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. Click to download the brief “Looking at the data, states with stricter COVID-19 public health policies did see small health benefits from reduced infections and mortality rates – but at the...

August 28, 2023 Multimedia, Studies

Watch as the Professor buys a bike for Penny to show how the broken health care payment system hurts Medicare patients. They explore that by creating a support program based on income, we can help Medicare patients buy private insurance instead of being stuck with poor government care. READ THE STUDY   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvlwyvVGcNY...

August 4, 2023 Briefs, Multimedia, Studies

Watch as Penny is unhappy that she has to enter the geography bee instead of the science fair due to bureaucratic rules at school. The Professor explores how, much in the same way, eliminating unnecessary barriers can produce a more efficient and productive health care system. To learn more, read the Coverage Denied series at www.medecon.org   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmLoJWQ935M...

June 20, 2023 Briefs, Studies

Providing cash-based support to the vulnerable to purchase private health insurance would increase access to quality healthcare at roughly the same per enrollee costs as Medicaid programs - finds the latest paper in the Coverage Denied series released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. Click to download the brief “Tens of millions are stuck in a flawed government-run healthcare system that provides sub-par care to patients, imposes huge taxpayer costs, and harms the...

January 4, 2023 Briefs, Studies

DOWNLOAD THE BRIEF   Executive Summary Declining productivity growth in the delivery of healthcare is not innate to the sector. It simply reflects the current policy environment. Incentivizing a more productive and cost-effective healthcare provider sector is possible but requires comprehensive policy reforms that eliminate the obstacles blocking progress. These reforms include: Implementing the insurance reforms discussed in Part 5 that, from a provider perspective, will incentivize the creation of innovative payment models. New payment models create opportunities to better align the incentives...

November 16, 2022 Briefs, Price and Costs, Studies

SACRAMENTO – The broken 340B program, designed to provide affordable care for at-risk patients, creates massive profits for providers without necessarily improving patient health outcomes and should be reformed, finds a new issue brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. Click here to download a copy of the brief “The 340B program is growing unsustainably and isn’t improving health outcomes for at-risk patients,” said Dr. Wayne Winegarden, the Center’s director and the...

October 10, 2022 Briefs, Price and Costs, Studies

CLICK HERE TO READ THE BRIEF In addition to the reforms to the health insurance system, which will help address the problems of drug affordability, reforms tailored to the pharmaceutical sector are necessary. These reforms should eliminate drug supply chain inefficiencies and include: fostering a patient-controlled generics market, creating price transparency through reforms that ensure patients directly benefit from all discounts when purchasing their medicines,  fixing the drug formularies’ systemic biases against low-cost medicines, and encouraging contracting innovations that could create...