At a meeting this week of the DeWine administration’s Ohio Prescription Drug Transparency and Affordability Council, of which OMA is a member, presenters discussed the mechanisms of drug pricing in the U.S. The council is tasked with issuing a report this fall on the state’s pharmaceutical purchasing. Kipp Snider, national vice president for state policy, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), gave a presentation to panelists focusing on the following: manufacturers’ commitment to beat the coronavirus; an overview of medicine spending and costs – highlighting that medicine only represents 14% of total health spending and that prices grew just 0.3% in 2018 after discounts and rebates; PhRMA’s commitment to policy solutions to help patients pay less for medicines; an overview of PhRMA’s Medicine Assistance Tool (MAT) – a web platform designed to help patients, caregivers and health care providers learn about resources that assist in accessing medicines. Specifically regarding the fight against coronavirus, America’s biopharmaceutical companies are committed to developing solutions to help diagnose and treat those with COVID-19. Snider highlighted the landmark agreement between OMA member AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford to globally develop and distribute the potential vaccine. As reported, U.S. doses will, in part, be manufactured at the West Chester, Ohio facility. Here are some of the progressive efforts that PhRMA members have undertaken to help defeat the coronavirus. 7/9/2020