5 Myths About Orphan Drugs and the Orphan Drug Act
The Orphan Drug Act (ODA) was signed into law in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan. This major piece of legislation was the first-of-its-kind for rare diseases and its success has helped to encourage similar legislation in other parts of the world. From the patient perspective, the ODA has been extremely successful, encouraging research and development of orphan drugs – products for diseases that would otherwise be ignored.
Today, there are many misconceptions about orphan drugs and about the Orphan Drug Act. For example, orphan drugs have been tied to rising healthcare costs in America. In 2017, NORD commissioned a study by QuintilesIMS (now IQVIA) to quantify the true impact of orphan drugs on overall healthcare and prescription drug spending. This study found that orphan drugs only accounted for 7.9% of total drug sales.
NORD created the 5 Myths About Orphan Drugs and the Orphan Drug Act series to help dispel some of these myths and to educate stakeholders and decision-makers.
OD_Myths.pdf (949 downloads)
