Big Pharma And Big Prices: Biotech's Elephant In The Room

The biotech boom is making way for new drug therapies to become so-called million dollar miracles, but they don't come without a price. Life-saving prescription drugs can costs hundreds of thousands of dollars — and the pharmaceutical industry spends millions on the research and development that goes into making those drugs.

There's momentum building around a new model to get drug prices to align with the benefits patients get — one that determines just how cost effective today's new drugs are.

Steve Pearson, founder and president of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER). The institute tweets at @icer_review.

Randy Burkholder, vice president of policy and research for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade and lobbying group. The group tweets at @PhRMA.