Containing The Cost Of Covid

Generic drugs can be lifesavers for people in need of medicine.

They cost less than the name brand drugs, but they are just as effective and are FDA approved.

Insurance plans tend to steer patients to them for that reason, and joining us to discuss why the need for generic drugs has never been more important is president and CEO of the Association For Accessible Medicines, Dan Leonard.

Clear and dry weather.

The start of next week c1 3 for people in need of medicine.

They cost less than the name brand drugs, but they are just as effective and are fda approved.

Insurance plans tend to steer patients to them for that reason, and joining us to discuss why the need for generic drugs has never been more important is president and ceo of the association for accessible medicines, dan leonard.

Thank you for joining us today, dan.

Dan leonard: thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Great to be here.

Lisa: well, and thank you for being here, and let's get right to it.

We just touched on it in the intro, but why are generic drugs so important, and how frequently are they prescribed?

Dan leonard: well, they're important because health care costs continue to rise, but when generic medications come onto the market and there's generic competition in the pharmaceutical space, prices go down.

What's phenomenal about this is a new report that we just put published this week, that 90% of the prescriptions filled in this country are now for generic medications.

So, nine in ten prescriptions are for generics, yet we only take up 20% of the spend, the overall spend, on drugs in this country.

So you have patients whose health is being improved, but at a fraction of the cost of what it would have been if they were on brand medication.

So, in a time wheconomy is tight, where healany cases, you can e very affordable and accessibledn patients?

Umber i just gave you was the 90 to $31n savings for taxp means to the individual page co-pay, that's what you po the counter for a brand medicadicatr a co-pay is $6.

Soeaper than the brand.

Again, same fore brand, yet y.

It's significant.

How are generic drugs being used to treat covid positive patients and save lives right now?

Dan leonard: well, this is something we've seen really since the beginning of the pandemic back in the spring, is as patients, particularly the very ill patients, who have had to go to the hospital, and frontline health care workers are treating them, more and more they're being treated with generic medications, whether they are sedatives that are necessary when you have to put a patient on a ventilator or steroids that reduce inflammation in the lung and help with your breathing and oxygenation.

So it's those generic medications that are being delivered to patients and we are seeing more and more of those patients, thank god, walking out of the hospital and getting healthy.

So, it's those generic treatments that are taking care of patients now, and until we have a vaccine, the generic medicines being used today are the bridge to that vaccine.

Lisa: absolutely.

Now, how much health care system savings can be attributed to these generic drugs?

Dan leonard: yeah, so, we've been talking about it at the kind of the patient level and what it means to your co-pay, but the system, nationally, is saving billions of dollars, $313 billion in 2019.

Within the government programs, medicare and medicaid, almost $100 billion dollars in savings in medicare, almost $50 billion in savings in medicaid.

So, this is really good news for taxpayers.

It's really good news for the government and really good news for our elected leaders in washington, where i'm sitting, who are trying to figure out how to get a handle on overall drug costs.

The thing that they can do to improve that situation is make sure that generic medication and generic competition happens as soon as it possibly can.

Lisa: gotcha, and patients have access to their doctors, to the pharmacist, to be resources, to help them if they have questions whether or not their medication could possibly come in a generic, is that correct?

Dan leonard: absolutely.

A hundred percent.

Patients can have conversations with their physician, of course, but yeah, the pharmacist is well-equipped to answer those questions and to talk about the options that are available to you.

They'll tell you if there are any, and how many generics might be available, and the cost savings, the differential between a brand and a generic.

So, folks should feel really comfortable asking their physician or their pharmacist those questions.

Lisa: where else can people go for more information about this?

Dan leonard: so, we have a website that's full of information around the cost savings, the impact for patients, but also some of what our companies are doing to fight back against covid-19.

That's all on our website, which is www.accessiblemed s.org.

Lisa: wonderful.

Dan, thank you so much for being with us today.

We really appreciate.