Runaway Drug Costs: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us

ORLANDO, Fla., May 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Resolving the issue of runaway drug spending is no mystery once consumers understand they - not the pharmaceutical companies - are the problem, best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell told the 500 attendees at the Medco Health Solutions second national Drug Trend Symposium held here.

"The issue is with consumers of drugs, not just the producers of drugs," said Gladwell. "Until you explain that their own desires, behaviors, needs and spending patterns are driving this runaway engine, you aren't going to get anywhere."

Gladwell says most Americans perceive the issue of high prescription drug costs is the result of drug price inflation instead of increased use. "That is convenient, it allows pharmaceutical companies to get blamed for drug spending. When you reframe this as a utilization issue the primary culprit becomes not the drug company but the consumer."

The best-selling author says that conflicting interests among patients, prescribers and payors - combined with an array of new drugs flowing from pharmaceutical manufacturers - has created a marketplace mired in complexity.

"We as consumers are defeated by choice. And when we are confronted by too many choices we begin to do things that are irrational," Gladwell says, adding that without sources of unbiased information - what he calls "Mavens" who become trusted thought leaders within their social circles - doctors too, are caught in the middle.

"Doctors are saying 'this is the fancy new thing, why don't you take it.' In the absence of any individual or institution that has carved out a social role ... we default to DTC advertising. We are ... moving to a default position where we are treating drugs as other consumer goods and the result is what we are seeing now - runaway drug spend."

Gladwell says the recent concerns that have resulted in the removal of blockbuster pain-relieving drugs from the market proves that expensive new drugs aren't always an improvement on less expensive, older medicines that have the benefit of proven safety profiles.

Gladwell, whose on-stage presence is exceeded only by the magnitude of his business concepts, which have produced two best-selling books -- "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference" and, most recently, "Blink: the Power of Thinking Without Thinking," a New York Times Best Seller for the past 15 weeks.

Gladwell was hired by the Washington Post as a science writer in 1987 and subsequently became the newspaper's New York City bureau chief. Since 1996, he has worked as a staff writer for The New Yorker.

In his books, Gladwell has translated groundbreaking research in sociology, psychology and other fields into applications related to business. "The Tipping Point" described the factors that help to ignite, steer and/or sustain behavior-based trends and inform business strategy and development.

In "Blink," Gladwell reveals the ways in which understanding intuitive instincts that enable instantaneous processing in the unconscious mind improves decision-making in a business environment.

Gladwell's keynote opened Medco's second Drug Trend Symposium, a national forum designed to present thought leadership on issues surrounding the cost and quality of prescription healthcare coverage for the benefit of human resources coordinators, health plan managers and private and public employers from organizations both large and small.

Over the course of the two-day symposium, Medco will present a series of speakers and release proprietary research, including The Medco Monitor - a nationwide survey reflecting consumer perceptions on a range of prescription drug issues; and Medco 2005 Drug Trend Report, which details spending trends and patterns, based on the actual data gathered from the millions of patients for whom Medco manages a prescription drug benefit.

About Medco

Medco Health Solutions is a leader in managing prescription drug programs that are designed to drive down the cost of pharmacy healthcare for private and public employers, health plans, labor unions and government agencies of all sizes. Medco operates the largest mail order and Internet pharmacies and has been recognized for setting new industry benchmarks for pharmacy dispensing quality. Medco, ranked by Fortune Magazine as one of America's "Most Admired" healthcare companies, is a Fortune 50 company with 2004 revenues of $35 billion. Medco is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MHS. On the Net: http://www.medco.com/

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