The Council for Informed Drug Spending Analysis (CIDSA) arose from the need for a central, objective source of expert information on drug spending policy. With debates raging over drug prices and spending policy, policymakers, the media, and the public need unbiased and reliable expert analysis of proposed measures to lower drug costs. Yet too often, the powerful pharmaceutical industry drowns out the more independent voices of academics and policy experts and their insights on the implications of drug spending policies and the true impact on consumers.

CIDSA informs the drug spending debate with three unique tools: expert surveys on key drug spending policies, fiscal estimates of policy effects, and a blog that makes drug spending research and commentary more easily accessible. Our surveys will gauge expert opinion on the effects of drug spending policies, allowing comparisons across policy options. Our fiscal estimates of drug spending policies and variations will give policymakers more information to better evaluate competing approaches. And by bringing more voices into the drug spending debate, we will bring forward new ideas and help untangle the seeming complexities of drug pricing in America.

Transparency is the hallmark of CIDSA – we clearly state our methods and financial relationships in all our products. Each CIDSA expert provides a conflict of interest disclosure, and all blog contributors will also provide full disclosure. CIDSA is solely funded as a product of the West Health Policy Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization dedicated to lowering the cost of healthcare to enable successful aging. The West Health Policy Center is part of the West Health family of organizations, all of which are solely funded by philanthropists Gary and Mary West.