5 ways pharma is misleading the public on the cost of prescription drugs
Drug companies launched an ad and publicity extravaganza this year right after President-elect Donald Trump said they “are getting away with murder” on sky-high pill prices.
More than it has in years, the pharmaceutical industry fears major legislation that would curb prices and shrink profits. TV spots lauding drug companies, quoting poet Dylan Thomas, and showing heroic scientists have been hard to escape.
But the narrative from the industry’s trade group, PhRMA, is only the rosiest, most self-serving version of the tale, say critics, and numerous independent authorities question its assertions.
They say the campaign is misleading in these five ways:
It lowballs drugs’ cost to society
For years, PhRMA said retail prescription drugs account for of America’s enormous health care bill. Lately, the group has been, counting chemotherapy and other drugs delivered in hospitals and doctor offices.
