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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The Values Debate: How Much is Your Drug Worth?


What is the right price for a medical breakthrough?

That is a question that pharmaceutical and biotech companies spend a lot of time working on.

It is obviously a business critical question.

But it is also a political question, a fact that industry may not like but cannot afford to ignore.

The federal government is already the biggest payor for prescription drugs in the US, albeit through a patchwork of programs and contractors. And the US Congress is always ready to weigh in and substitute its judgment for the private sector's.

What does all this mean? Well, that's a question we can help you with. Or at least, we can find some real experts to help you. We've invited a bunch to speak at the FDA/CMS Summit for Biopharma Executives on December 6 and 7 in Washington DC. Speakers include top government officials (like HHS Deputy Secretary Tevi Troy and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Coverage Group head Steve Phurrough), thought leaders from industry (like Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. CEO George Abercrombie, Amgen VP Josh Ofman, and Merck VP Ian Spatz) and plenty of other influential policy professionals. (Want to read more? Here is our press release.)

And remember, this is just one theme of this year's summit. We'll have plenty more content on the new drug safety rules, the pressures on drug development, off-label promotion, follow-on biologics and much much more.

See you next week!

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