Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy

Prescription drug expenditures are projected to reach $360.2 billion in 2018. Per capita spending on these drugs rose 5 percent in 2015 and 3.5 percent in 2016. The public is outraged by stories of Martin Shkreli raising the price of Daraprim by 5,000 percent, and Mylan raising the price of a pair of EpiPens by 400 percent. Meanwhile, the cost of treatment with the most novel anticancer drugs has risen by 400 percent over the past 10 years, and the cost of treatment with new drugs that can cure Hepatitis C is tens of thousands of dollars. Will the prices of prescription drugs continue to rise at extraordinary rates? Are a handful of blockbuster drugs to blame, or will all patients be forced to pay rapidly rising prices? At this event, Vivian Ho, director of the Baker Institute Center for Health and Biosciences, will explore these questions and describe the policy options to control drug price increases being recommended by policymakers, researchers and clinicians.