A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“The Colbert Report” is no more, and with its demise, we seem to have lost the fictional Prescott Pharmaceuticals (“Prescott Pharmaceuticals: The tingling tells you it’s working. The class-action lawsuit tells you it’s Prescott”).
Still, Stephen Colbert, new host of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on CBS — not the fake conservative pundit he played on “The Report” — can derive plenty of humor from needling the pharma industry. Friday — yes, he’s now on five nights a week — he did it in his familiar style, sitting at a desk delivering it like a news report, complete with graphics on one side of the screen.
The target of Colbert’s wit this time was Addyi (flibanserin), otherwise known as the female Viagra.
Colbert noted that the drug comes from Sprout Pharmaceuticals, and pointed out that there’s a children’s TV network called Sprout, “which is what kids can watch while Gammy and Pepop get it on.”
Colbert poked fun at what some see as scant evidence that the drug is highly effective, citing reports from clinical trials that flibanserin produced 2-3 “sexually satisfying events” per month in women. That’s just one more than those who got a placebo, “though, far fewer than women who skipped the study and went to see ‘Magic Mike XXL.'”
He also joked about the fact that women on flibanserin effectively have to abstain from alcohol, “because nothing gets you in the mood like staring at your longtime partner stone-cold sober.”
The drug did achieve what Colbert said was its desired effect for Sprout: helping the company sell for $1 billion.
