• Leadership and Structure
• Corporate Governance
• Public Policy
  • Access and Affordability
  • Pricing and Value
  • Health Care Reform
  • Resources
  • Pat the Pill
    • Pat Lends a Helping Hand
    • Other Ways to Save
    • How New Medicines Are Invented
    • A U.S. Patent
    • Testing for Safety and Effectiveness
    • What Are You Paying for Pat...and Why?
    • Meet Pat´s Relatives
    • Pat Earns His Keep-And Then Some
    • Introducing Pat to Doctors
    • Introducing Pat to the Public
    • Pat Grows Old and Loses His Patent
    • More Pats on the Way
• History
• Accolades

Pat Earns His Keep—And Then Some

We know it is expensive to take good care of your health. You probably hear a lot about the price of medicines. But you don't hear as much about how they can reduce other costs. Costs such as:

• Days off from work when you are sick
• Time in the hospital
• Number of surgeries needed

Medicines don't just save money. They also improve the quality of your life. They may even save your life.

• AIDS medicines keep many more people alive and save money. AIDS medicines caused a large drop in the death rate for patients in the U.S. While drug spending increased, the total cost of caring for an AIDS patient went down by 16% over a year and a half.³
• Medicines for mental illnesses save money and improve the quality of life. A drug for schizophrenia lets many patients be treated at home. This saves $23,000 per year per patient. Over 4 years, the cost of treating one bout of severe depression dropped by about 25%.⁴
• New drugs save money. A university study found that new drugs save money. For every dollar we spend on newer drugs we save $7 in other costs. Sometimes it is hard to see those savings. First, they take place over a long period of time. Second, insurance pays for some things, like hospitals, and not for others, like medicines. The bottom line is that new drugs can keep people out of the hospital and help them live longer, more healthy lives.⁵

• Continue to Introducing Pat to Doctors

³ Bozzette SA, Joyce G, McCaffrey DF, et al. Expenditures for the care of HIV-infected patients in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy [abstract]. N Engl J Med. 2001; 344:817-823. Available at: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/344/11/817.Accessed December 16, 2003.

⁴ Berndt ER, Busch SH, Frank RG. Measuring prices and quantities of treatment of depression. Am Econ Rev. 1998; 88: 106-111. Available at: http://www.medicineswork.org/resources//2002-07-21.91.phtml. Accessed December 16, 2003.

⁵ Lichtenberg F. Benefits and costs of newer drugs: An update. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper #8996. June 2002. Available at: http://papers.nber.org/papers/w8996.pdf. Accessed December 16, 2003.

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