The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) has recommended that the next Food and Drug Administration (FDA) director adopt five specific strategies to encourage pharmaceutical pricing competition based on results of its recently commissioned report.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, recently nominated by President Donald Trump, is expected to be confirmed as the new FDA head.
The report from Matrix Global Advisors CEO Alex Brill is titled “How the Next FDA Commissioner Can Address Drug Prices by Promoting Drug Competition.” Brill said that competitive pricing not only has been unduly overshadowed by innovation but that the inequity also has resulted in “widespread public frustration” requiring an adjustment of priorities.
The report itemized five ways for the FDA to encourage competition: shorten review periods for first-time generic products, prevent rampant denial of access to drug samples to manufacturers who may seek to develop generic equivalents, reduce additional impediments to generic development, allocate more support for brand competition and simplify the existing application process for biosimilars.
“Competition among pharmaceutical products takes many forms, and the FDA would be well advised to carefully consider strategies to foster these important market dynamics," Brill said in a press release. "Cost savings for payers as well as more innovation will ensue."
PCMA president and CEO Mark Merritt praised the report, saying it “offers common sense, bipartisan steps policymakers can take in the near term.”
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