Friday, August 21, 2015

Two excellent discussions of biopharma/medtech innovation, pricing, and strategy

Two excellent articles this week on biopharma/medtech innovation, pricing, industry challenges, and strategy.

At the Health Affairs blog, Jane Horvath has a broad and content-rich review of why pharma prices land where they are, giving the reader a deep view of pharma economic strategies.  Here. (2000 words.)   Horvath is an experienced industry consultant and former HHS policymaker.

At Harvard Business School's thought capital site, Working Knowledge, Michael Blanding writes: "Why Medical Devices Get to Patients Too Slowly."   Here.   Discusses and paired with a 59-page PDF white paper by Ariel Dora Stern ("Innovation under Regulatory Uncertainty: Evidence from Medical Technology.")  Here.
Stern is Assistant Professor at Harvard Business School, faculty webpage here; her impressive CV here.  See also her "Limits on the use of health economic assessments for rare diseases," Quarterly Journal of Medicine, 2014, here.