The complicated work of putting a valuation on life

It’s pretty uncontroversial to say that the value of a given drug depends on just how much it helps people. A lifesaving therapy is worth one price; a moderately effective treatment is worth another. But the business of actually assigning numbers to that idea — and thus deciding whether a drug is cost-effective — injects intense human emotion into a quantitative conversation.

That all came to a head at the most recent meeting of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, a nonprofit that tasks itself with determining what a drug is actually worth. As STAT’s Kate Sheridan reports, ICER applied its rubric to treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. But for the patient advocates in the room — most of whom were parents of children with DMD — simply asking the question sounded like putting a dollar value on human life.

“It’s an extremely uncomfortable position,” said Mindy Leffler, a DMD parent who spoke during the meeting. “How am I supposed to make some comment on the value of my son’s life?”

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