The U.S. should abandon the specialty-drug label for high-cost drugs and follow suit with other countries that categorize drugs by their clinical- and cost-effectiveness, the authors of a recent article published in NEJM write.
Categorizing all expensive drugs as being specialty drugs, Huseyin Naci and Aaron Kesselheim write, “is an approach taken only by the U.S. health care system.”
“Comparative clinical- and cost-effectiveness analyses could be used to determine value-based price benchmarks, which would then guide decisions regarding coverage of drugs in plan formularies and reasonable prices for those drugs,” they write. “More important, such analyses could inform decisions regarding copayment levels and prior-authorization requirements.”
To read the full article on NEJM, click here.
