Patents and Accelerated Approval for Drugs

When it comes to saving a buck, rare and chronic disease patients are too often put on the chopping block. Accelerated approval drugs are key to treating life threatening diseases. So why is Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) targeting these lifesaving treatments?

Dr. Ken Thorpe of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease and rare disease advocate Marc Yale explain why this attempt at cost savings hurts patients. Plus, Terry and Dr. Bob look at the debate around waiving vaccine patents and alternative solutions to combating COVID-19.

Guest:

Kenneth Thorpe, Ph.D.

Chairman, Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease

Dr. Thorpe is chairman of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, an international coalition of over 80 groups focused on highlighting the key role that chronic disease plays in the growth in healthcare spending, and the high rates of morbidity and mortality. PFCD focuses on identifying best practice prevention and care coordination strategies and scaling them countrywide. He also serves as co-chair of the Partnership for the Future of Medicare, a non-partisan organization focused on identifying long-term reforms that would make the program more efficient and improve the quality of care provided to beneficiaries.

Dr. Thorpe is also the Robert W. Woodruff Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy & Management, in the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.

Links:

Kenneth Thorpe, Ph.D. 

Limiting Medicaid Access to Accelerated Approval Drugs: Costs and Consequences

Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease

Coronavirus: Vaccines and Variants with Vin Gupta, MD, and Peter Hotez, MD, PhD

Haystack Project

International Pemphigus & Pemphigoid Foundation

Marc Yale

Patient Correspondent: Anna Williams

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