Patients for Affordable Drugs' Merith Basey Calls for Lowering High Costs of Cell and Gene Therapies | AHIP 2024

In a second part of a video interview conducted prior to the June 11-13 AHIP 2024 meeting in Las Vegas, Merith Basey, executive director of Patients for Affordable Drug, talks about strategies for lowering the cost of new drugs, especially cell and gene therapy.

Basey co-presented on "Making Prescription Drugs Affordable and Accessible for Everyone," alongside Lauren E. Aronson, executive director, Campaign for Sustainable Rx Drug Pricing; Vin Gupta, M.D., M.S.t, M.P.A., chief medical officer, Amazon Pharmacy and Adam Kautzner, Pharm.D., president, Evernorth Care Management and Express Scripts.

"The discussion shouldn't be about how we can pay," Basey said. "It should be how we can lower the price and what are the mechanisms we can use to ensure that all the people who need access are able to get it."

Basey referenced the the high price of sickle cell gene therapy and that many of the people with the disease are insured through state Medicaid plans. "With the price tag in the seven figures, states would be bankrupted," she said.

In Spain, CAR-T therapy for cancer is being produced at one-third of the price that's being charged in the U.S., she said.

A more decentralized approach to CART-T therapy might help bring prices down, she added.