The state is already well-recognized as a hub for drug innovation and discovery.
According to The Boston Globe, Massachusetts has inserted itself in the national discourse on prescription drug pricing in three important ways. State Senator Mark C. Montigny (D) has proposed far reaching provisions to control drug prices; Attorney General Maura Healey is pressing drugmaker Gilead Science to lower the prices of its hepatitis C treatments; and a Boston-based watchdog group is spearheading efforts to set “value-based” prices for new drugs.
Steven D. Pearson, MD, president of the watchdog group, called the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, said the commonwealth’s focus on drug affordability “fits with the Massachusetts role historically” as a breeding ground for innovations that are later adopted nationally, such as universal healthcare. “Other states look to Massachusetts,” he said, according to the report.
While the issue of drug pricing has largely remained in the background during the annual BIO event, this year, as medication affordability continues to gain traction as a principal issue, BIO has scheduled more than a half-dozen sessions on the topic.
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