High Drug Prices Weigh on Patients, Will Lawmakers Respond?
To the Point
KCRW
4.4 • 583 Ratings
🗓️ 29 December 2015
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Pharmaceutical start-ups are increasingly using drug patent loopholes to jack up prices on old drugs. It's just one example of the wild west of drug pricing. Unlike Europe and Canada, the US doesn't negotiate the price of drugs or provide caps. Guest host Barbara Bogaev asks whether costs are out of control, and explores what should be done about it.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Join left-right and center host Bob Shear for his new podcast, Shear Intelligence. The twice-monthly |
| 0:07.2 | podcast features thinkers and trendsetters in conversation with one of political journalism's leading voices. |
| 0:13.9 | Through the show's unique and sometimes surprising perspectives, you'll get up to speed |
| 0:18.9 | on the current issues shaping the Beltway and the world. |
| 0:23.1 | Find sheer intelligence on KCRW's iTunes page. |
| 0:27.3 | From KCRW in Santa Monica and PRI, Public Radio International, this is To the Point. |
| 0:35.2 | America's Wild West of Drug pricing. |
| 0:40.4 | I'm Barbara Bogave sitting in for Warren Alme, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International, |
| 0:45.3 | a daily look at the issues Americans care about most. |
| 0:48.2 | When pharmaceutical executive Martin Schrelli bought the rights to an old drug and then raised its price 5,000 percent. |
| 0:55.6 | Americans named him the most hated man in the country. |
| 0:58.0 | But he's only doing what Big Pharma does every day, thanks to patent laws and America's free |
| 1:03.9 | market approach to drug pricing. |
| 1:06.2 | Rising costs are outraging patients, doctors, and health insurers all along the political |
| 1:10.6 | spectrum. |
| 1:11.6 | But with all the money Big Pharma spends on lobbying, will Washington take up drug pricing reform? |
| 1:17.2 | That's coming up. |
| 1:18.4 | And on today's talking point, a look at the Islamic State's detailed rules on how it treats female war captives as sex slaves. |
| 1:25.6 | First, the news. |
| 1:30.5 | Listen to KCRW's 24-hour all-news channel. Stream BBC World Service, NPR and KCRW programs. |
| 1:39.1 | Continuous coverage and accessible via our smartphone app or online at kCRW.com. |
| 1:49.1 | Support for To the Point comes from the members of KCRW and from the Public Radio |
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