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“According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), in 2015 the United States spent 3.1 trillion dollars on healthcare. 10% of which, or 3.1 billion dollars, in that one year was spent on prescription drugs,” explained author Dr. Barrie Levitt. “If we want to make the cost of healthcare less expensive in the United States and more affordable for patients, then its important to find productive, reasonable ways to lower the cost of drugs for patients.”
This podcast is a comprehensive, honest look into the economics of pharmaceuticals. Dr. Barrie Levitt shares his knowledge from his forty plus years in the field both of the medical side, as well as, his legal and regulatory experience with the FDA. Among other topics, we take a deep dive into how treatments were priced historically, pharmaceutical pricing today and how to fix it, and why some drugs become orphans.
As Dr. Levitt says, this information could not be shared if he was still in practice. This is valuable information for people entering the field of pharmaceuticals, but also addresses a broad spectrum of legal and business issues that cross industries. “I think it’s a good starting point to learn from my mistakes rather than make your own mistakes,” laughed Dr. Levitt. “I believe I’ve outlined my mistakes in a fair amount of detail at this point.”
About Dr. Barrie Levitt
Dr. Levitt’s unique experience acquired from years of work as a physician, an expert consultant to the
FDA and a pharmaceutical company chairman and CEO, makes him a credible voice on prescription drug pricing.
Dr. Levitt began his career as a physician-scientist in academia, and spent 40 years as a practicing cardiologist and held positions as Chief of Cardiology at New York Medical College and Vice-Chairman of Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in New York.
For 21 years, he was an expert consultant to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and for 19 years was the Chairman and CEO of Taro Pharmaceuticals, a multinational specialty pharmaceutical company. Dr. Levitt is currently the Managing Member of Orenova Group, LLC located in White Plains, New York.
About A Prescription For Success In Pharmaceuticals: Transforming a Start-up into a Profitable, Cash-Producing Enterprise
A Prescription for Success in Pharmaceuticals: Transforming a Start-Up into a Cash Producing Enterprise (“A Prescription for Success”), a groundbreaking book aimed at explaining the prescription drug market and providing step-by-step instructions for building a small business into a global company is now available for purchase.
Written by Barrie Levitt, M.D., FACC, the book describes Dr. Levitt’s experience as an entrepreneur who built his family business into an extremely successful multi-national specialty pharmaceutical company.
A Prescription for Success outlines the logistics of growing and maintaining a successful pharmaceutical company, and explores the convoluted way that pharmaceutical companies price their drugs and how other players in the pharmaceutical industry contribute to the drug pricing confusion.
“A Prescription for Success provides useful information for legislators, business owners, industry executives, patient advocates and anyone who wants to improve their understanding of the economics of the pharmaceutical industry,” stated Dr. Levitt. “In addition, this book can be useful for business school students interested in the development and expansion of companies.”
The e-book is currently available on .
Episode Outline
- About Dr. Barrie Levitt
- About Prescription for Success
- History of Prescription Drug Prices
- Price Controls and Generic Drugs
- How some Drugs become Orphans
- How to fix the Prescription Drug Pricing Problem
- Advice for Pharmaceutical Entrepeneurs
- Closing Thoughts
Related Links
For more information on the book, please visit:
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