Date May 14, 2025
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PHP 0650 From Manufacturer to Patient: Why is the cost of prescription drugs so darn high?

By Mayor Manaplid

Professor Ronald Aubert's course aims to help students understand the complexities of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, identifying the factors that result in such high prescription drug prices.

Why is the cost of prescription drugs so high? It’s a question a lot of Americans are asking.

In the summer of 2023, public polling found that one in four adults who were prescribed prescription drugs experienced difficulty affording their medication. In comparison to other high-income countries, Americans spend the most per capita on prescription drugs. Despite the issue’s importance—to health care and to people’s purses—the industry factors that shape prescription drug prices remain largely a mystery to the public and to health care professionals.

With his class “PHP 0650 From Manufacturer to Patient: Why is the Cost of Prescription Drugs So Darn High?” Ronald Aubert, Ph.D., MSPH aims to tackle the industry’s opacity, illuminating the complex set of factors that result in such high prescription drug prices.

“I want to demystify health insurance companies, pharmaceuticals as well all the processes and factors that go into manufacturing, distribution and pricing,” says Aubert, who is senior associate dean of education in the School of Public Health and visiting professor of the practice of health services, policy and practice. “There’s a lot going on behind the scenes and this class is an opportunity to introduce students to a sector they wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise.”

“ For people who are planning to be providers, I think it provides this knowledge with a lot of empathy and helps them see what exactly the other sides of this problem look like. ”

Sydney Pearson ’25

In this class, students deepen their understanding of the contributors to prescription drug prices by critically analyzing scientific literature and news articles. A variety of guest speakers, from industry professionals to patient advocates, share their expertise with students.

Sydney Pearson ’25, who took PHP 0650 in the spring of 2024, found the class engaging and recommends it, especially to students interested in medicine or health care. “I feel like the class was good at taking the knowledge from health care in the U.S., and putting it towards something that I think impacts a lot of us in different ways since most people will be buying some sort of prescription pharmaceutical at some point,” Pearson said. “For people who are planning to be providers, I think it provides this knowledge with a lot of empathy and helps them see what exactly the other sides of this problem look like.”

As part of the final project, students are tasked with putting themselves in the shoes of an insurance firm and must come up with strategies to make an expensive specialty treatment more affordable. Giving public health students the opportunity to build analytical and problem-solving skills was a priority for Aubert when designing PHP 0650.

“This class was constructed with the premise that, after Brown, these students will end up in positions where they can implement direct solutions and help tackle the unaffordability of pharmaceuticals and other therapeutics,” he said. “The practical skills students learn in this class could make the future of public health care more accessible for vulnerable communities.”

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Epidemiology MPH program Continuum Magazine

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