New Animated Series Aims to Help Patients "Escape the Drug Pricing Maze"

SAN FRANCISCO, March 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- 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."

Click here to watch the first video

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 lower prices and more innovation.

This and future videos in the "Escape the Drug Pricing Maze" series can be viewed at the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation website – www.medecon.org – or at PRI's YouTube page – www.youtube.com/PacificResearch1.

"There is a lot of confusion and misinformation surrounding drug price control legislation and proposals to import drugs from foreign countries. These ideas have been amplified during our current coronavirus pandemic. While these proposals may sound good, they would harm America's patients in practice," said Dr. Wayne Winegarden, director of PRI's Center for Medical Economics and Innovation. 

In the "Escape the Drug Pricing Maze" series, Professor Salvare guides Pete Paystoomuch through the drug pricing maze, showing in a lighthearted, easy-to-understand way how the direction policymakers take on drug pricing policy could impact the affordability and availability of current medicines, and innovation that could lead to future, life-saving cures.

Future videos in the series will address the following topics:

• Understanding pharmaceutical prices, co-pays, co-insurance, and other costs paid by patients and insurers
• How medicines are sold in the United States
• How much it costs to develop a new medicine
• Why drug prices are higher in the U.S., and when they are cheaper
• The high costs of price controls and drug importation
• Reforms to promote innovation and patient affordability

"Our new animated series aims to help patients navigate through the 'drug pricing maze,' learn the basics about how drugs are priced, and why reforms to fix this complicated system are needed to increase affordability and ensure future innovation," concluded Winegarden.

New videos will be released regularly throughout the spring and summer. 

The Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the Pacific Research Institute (www.medecon.org) aims to educate policymakers, regulators, health care professionals, the media, and the public on the critical role that new technologies play in improving health and accelerating economic growth. 

PRI (www.pacificresearch.org) champions freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility by advancing free-market policy ideas.  Follow PRI on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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SOURCE Pacific Research Institute