Breaking the Pharmaceutical Monopoly
Meet Dan Liljenquist:
Dan Liljenquist is the lead architect and Board Chair of Civica Rx. His also Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for Intermountain Healthcare, where he also oversees Intermountain’s Enterprise Initiative and Market Intelligence & Planning Offices. Prior to Intermountain, Dan served in the Utah State Senate. He is a former strategy consultant with Bain & Company, Inc. Dan received a bachelor’s in Economics from Brigham Young University and a JD from The University of Chicago.
Key Insights:
Dan Liljenquist knew the pharmaceutical industry needed to change. He helped establish a nonprofit drug company to reduce generic drug shortages and price gouging.
- Market Forces. Huge price increases on generic drugs are only possible under certain market conditions: there is inelastic demand, economies of scale are necessary for manufacturing, and only one manufacturer is required to meet market demand.
- Changing Insulin. The price of insulin has gone up by an average of 11% a year for the past 20 years. CivicaRx will be bringing 3 insulin molecules to market, which collectively make up most of the insulin prescriptions in the U.S., for a retail price of no more than $30 per vile.
- Transparency. If Dan could change one aspect of the pharmaceutical industry it would be to make it more transparent. He points particularly to the confusing and opaque practices of pharmacy benefit managers and rebates. The high prices for pharmaceuticals have a real, negative impact on patients.
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