This ground-breaking new book, The Great American Drug Deal: A New Prescription for Innovative and Affordable Medicines (January 20, 2020), by Peter Kolchinsky, PhD, examines the healthcare landscape through the lens of the biotech social contract with America – the implicit agreement between the biopharmaceutical industry and American society – including the government's role in inventing drugs, direct to consumer advertising, the opioid crisis, the price-jacking of old drugs, and the impact of lower drug costs in other countries. Most importantly, The Great American Drug Deal describes concrete, actionable reforms under which patients will be able to afford their treatments and society will continue to reap the benefits of medical innovation. The Great American Drug Deal both acknowledges that drugs must be affordable to patients and gives readers reasons to be inspired by all the great advances the industry can offer to us and future generations. It presents a set of actionable solutions the U.S. can take to control the outrageous expenses patients face in a world of rising healthcare costs. Written by an industry insider, it won’t come as a surprise to those who oppose the drug industry that Dr. Kolchinsky calls for improving the quality of insurance, especially capping or eliminating out-of-pocket costs to make drugs affordable not price controls to lower their cost by sanction. In The Great American Drug Deal, readers will realize that Dr. Kolchinsky doesn’t just defend the biotech industry’s current practices but rather highlights real problems brewing within the drug industry that the public is overlooking.

Author Bio:

Peter Kolchinsky, PhD is a founder and Managing Partner at RA Capital Management, where he works with a large team of fellow scientists and investment professionals to start and provide funding for companies developing novel drugs, medical devices, and diagnostics. He serves as a Director of a number of public and private companies. Dr. Kolchinsky also leads the firm’s outreach and publishing efforts, which aim to make a positive social impact and spark collaboration among healthcare stakeholders, including patients, physicians, researchers, policy makers, and industry. He authored “The Entrepreneur’s Guide to a Biotech Startup”, has written on the biotech social contract, and served on the Board of Global Science and Technology for the National Academy of Sciences, which explored how the United States could remain a leader in innovation across many technology landscape. Dr. Kolchinsky holds a BA from Cornell University and a PhD in Virology from Harvard University. You can connect with Peter on LinkedIn.