Federal initiative seeks to make access to innovative therapies wider and more financially sustainable

On May 16, 2018 the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a Request for Information (RFI) to support its initiative “Blueprint to Lower Drug Prices and Reduce Out-of-Pocket Costs.”

The RFI notes that while the United States is the global leader in pharmaceutical research and innovation, helping to bring potent therapies to billions of people, it still faces complex, system-level problems that hinder efficient, affordable patient access to new medicines. According to the RFI, “It is time to realign the system in a way that promotes the development of affordable innovations that improve health outcomes and lower both out-of-pocket cost and the total cost of care.” The complete RFI (RIN 0991–ZA49) can be found on the website of the Federal Register.

The NEWDIGS Financing and Reimbursement of Cures in the US (FoCUS) project is well-positioned to address this challenge. FoCUS was launched in 2016 to address the complex problem of enabling the financial sustainability of new therapies that offered durable, potential curative therapies but that also risked very high upfront costs.

On July 12, NEWDIGS sent a letter to HHS Secretary Alex M Azar, sharing FoCUS findings to date and offering comment on specific points in the RFI. You can read the letter here.