Understanding rare diseases – and their costs – in group benefits
Drug therapies for rare diseases are growing in number and in cost. The financial impact of specialty pharmaceuticals is significant, and it can raise concerns about plan sustainability and equity.
Modern medical research has made dramatic strides in addressing a long-neglected therapeutic area: rare diseases. In Canada, these are defined as any disease that affects fewer than one in 2,000 individuals. For many years, these rare conditions attracted few research dollars and therefore relatively little in the way of pharmaceutical treatments, but not anymore, notes Christine Than, Assistant Vice-President and Pharmacy Lead, Aon Health Solutions. Today, while 90% of the 7,000 catalogued rare diseases lack a cure, the development of medications to treat these conditions has evolved rapidly.
