The Irish Times view on drug prices: Big Pharma’s hostages

An editorial from The Irish Times on high drug prices. An important step in recognising the issues we face due to the current intellectual property incentivisation model. 

"Rising prices of new medicines are having a profound impact globally and are now exceeding the capacity of even the wealthiest of countries to pay, a recent Dublin conference on drug prices heard."

Ellen t' Hoen, a leading IP expert at our Access to Medicines Conference told the Irish Times that Pharma frequently holds governments in a "hostage situation" by using fear tactics to discourage opposition to high drug prices. 

We welcome the Editor's position on opening dialogue for the exploration of alternative drug pricing models.

"Yet the presence of so many drug manufacturers in Ireland means we are in a unique position to open a dialogue with industry to explore alternative models for the pricing of medicines."

Full article here: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorial/the-irish-times-view-on-drug-prices-big-pharma-s-hostages-1.3486076