Are Prescriptions A Scalpel Or A Blunt Instrument?

This was an interesting discussion earlier today between several PBM executives and pharma people. Since 80% of chronic disease is treated today primarily with prescriptions, it would seem like prescriptions are being used as a scalpel. On the other hand, we have created the most medicated generation with people thinking of medication as the instant solution for all their medical issues.

So, if we give everyone a prescription even though it might not be right for them given their genomics or there might be a better answer for them – diet, exercise, surgery, we’re using prescriptions as a blunt (one size fits all) instrument today.

Can we drive down the costs to make it a personalized solution? Probably…but when.

And, given our expectations around healthcare, will we wait or will we become a generation of people who are so focused on taking a pill to fix all the ailments that we have and believe we have (c/o DTC advertising) will it matter?