Cassidy calls for ‘more sophisticated’ debate on drug prices

As Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) watches the debate over drug prices explode onto the 2016 campaign trail, he worries of an over-simplified conversation.

“It’s easy to look at and misunderstand,” Cassidy, a physician who serves on the Senate’s health committee, said at a panel hosted by The Hill and the USC Schaeffer Center on Thursday.

“We need to have a more sophisticated viewpoint beyond just ‘Oh my gosh, rates are going up, but we’re not going to blame the system we have in place, we’re going to find another culprit,’ ” he said.

Cassidy cited a costly drug used to treat hepatitis C, which is straining state and federal budgets nationwide. One course of treatment costs about $84,000.

The answer, Cassidy said, is a more “targeted approach” to handing out those prescriptions. Giving the drug to a woman in her 60s who is generally healthy, for example, is “probably a waste,” he said. He compared that to someone with late-stage liver fibrosis: “If you do not treat her, you’re going to spend $200,000 a year,” he said.

The freshman senator said he agreed that the skyrocketing costs of speciality drugs will be a big issue in next year’s race for the White House. Already, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has been quick to blame insurers and pharmaceutical companies for failing to control costs.

Drug costs drove the national debate last week after word spread that a pharmaceutical company had raised prices on a decades-old drug, commonly used by HIV patients, by more than 4,000 percent overnight.

Clinton repeatedly blasted the company, Turing Pharmaceutical, for “price gouging.” When the company’s CEO ultimately said he would reduce the price increase, Clinton ran an ad claiming victory.

But Cassidy warned that the debate over prices was more complicated. “We have to be sensitive about speciality drugs,” he said, acknowledging that for some drugs, “It’s abusive how they are priced.” But he also pointed to medical advancements that have reduced overall costs for people living with diseases such as Crohn’s disease, which once required expensive procedures.

“Now, surgery for Crohn’s disease is like, ‘Huh, do we still do that?’ ” he said.