Podcast Recommendation: 46Brooklyn Research

Next up on my recommended podcast is one which is a pretty interesting podcast, but I should advise my followers that this is one podcast which I really need to be able to give my complete, undivided attention to. Meaning: I can't listen to it as background noise, I really need to be cognizant of what the podcast is actually saying to follow-along. Some is simply because of the unbelievably complicated nature of the subject being discussed. 

Sadly, it should not be as complicated as it is, and that's a key reason patients in the U.S. pay more for the exact same prescriptions as patients in any other country do. I can listen to the podcast carefully, but not unless I am paying attention. Fortunately, the podcast itself doesn't post new episodes all the time. As I write this in late 2022, the last podcast episode was released on July 17, 2022.

I'm referring to The 46Brooklyn Podcast https://www.46brooklyn.com/podcast which is produced by the Ohio non-profit corporation known as 46Brooklyn Research, whose stated purpose is to improve the accessibility and usability of U.S. drug pricing data. 46Brooklyn Research (EIN #83-3213092) is organized as an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) Public Charity, which is also worth acknowledging. They aren't collecting pharma or drug distribution system dollars.

The team at 46Brooklyn Research include some individuals whose research into the prescription drug space has truly been groundbreaking, among them: Ben Link, Antonio Ciaccia, Eric Pachman, Matt Wine and a few others. I think their work pretty much speaks for itself, and they have exposed a sordid reality: that middlemen (including both drug wholesalers and pharmacy benefit managers) are almost solely responsible for U.S. prescription drug price inflation.

Incidentally, 46Brooklyn Research isn't alone in reaching this conclusion: academic researchers including from the University of Southern California have also done some fantastic work exposing the same reality. Curiously, in spite of that, pharma gets blamed over and over and over and pharma is by no means blameless (the drug industry continues to perpetuate a very broken drug distribution system). Which raises the question: why does pharma continue to prop-up the obviously very-broken system and accept blame for what others are doing? My guess would be inertia, but I'm only speculating on the answer.

Anyway, back to the podcast. The 46Brooklyn Podcast is one I recommend you add to your list, but beware that some of the episode content they cover is very detailed and requires the listener to know what they are talking about. In particular, episodes 1 through 4 is collectively called "Drug Pricing 101"  but my take is it means without giving those episodes sufficient attention, you could miss some points they are talking about.

However, I am sharing a particular episode which was a Q&A and was slightly less intensive than others in the series. Still, it's worth a listen. Listen to episode 7 at https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-inqd4-120ff44 or by listening below.