Expensive prescription drugs & what can be done about them

Guests: Julie Rovner, Lori Reilly, and Peter Bach

When Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of a sixty year-old drug Daraprim from $13.50 a pill to $750 people were floored. What could explain a 5000% price hike of an old drug overnight? With all the bad press the company lowered the list cost but many doctors, consumer advocates, and politicians say there are plenty of other examples of overpriced drugs. They argue that the government needs regulate drug costs but others say regulation would stifle drug development. This hour, why are prescription drugs so expensive and what can be done about it? We start off with JULIE ROVNER, senior correspondent at Kaiser Health News. Then Marty talks with LORI REILLY, executive vice president for policy & research at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and PETER BACH, physician and director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.