ABSTRACT
The global healthcare environment has been subject to significant change as a flux of drug innovation and healthcare budget pressures force tough trade-offs for public and private health insurance agencies. The total cost of healthcare is a large and growing concern in many countries. Relative growth of healthcare spending has been a main area of concern for many governments. Prescription drugs are frequently the area of focus in discussions about affordability of healthcare. In the US particularly, politicians seem to be focused on the cost of prescription drugs exclusively, ignoring the broader healthcare cost challenge. The emergence of new technologies, such as immuno-oncology and gene therapies, have elevated concerns over pharmaceutical budgets with many payers. In the US, the cost of healthcare has become an increasingly heavy burden on federal and state governments through programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, employers and employees through insurance premiums, and individual patients through deductions and co-payments.
