Net US spending on pharmaceuticals reached $309.5 billion in 2015, an 8.5% increase from the year before, and is expected to reach between $370 and $400 billion by 2020. These current and projected levels have raised serious concerns by policy makers, providers, payers, and patient groups that they are unsustainable and threaten the affordability of and accessibility to much-needed therapies for patients. Two trends related to drugs/biologics and generic drugs/biosimilars underlie this overall increase in spending. First, the market entry prices of innovator pharmaceutical products, or brand drugs and biologics, are at levels that some assessments consider unaffordable to the healthcare system. Second, prices for some established generic drugs such as digoxin and captopril have seen sharp and rapid increases. As an evidence-based patient advocacy organization dedicated to improving the cardiovascular health of all Americans, the American Heart Association has a unique role in advocating for treatments, including medicines that are available, affordable, and accessible to patients. This advisory serves to lay out a set of principles that will guide association engagement in pursuit of this goal.

2015年，美国在药品上的净支出达到了3,095亿美元，比上年增长8.5％，预计到2020年将达到370至4,000亿美元。这些当前和预计的水平引起了政策制定者，提供者，付款人，以及他们无法维持的患者群体，并威胁到患者急需的治疗方法的可负担性和可及性。与药物/生物制剂和仿制药/生物仿制药有关的两个趋势是总体支出增长的基础。首先，创新药物产品或品牌药物和生物制剂的市场进入价格处于某些评估认为对医疗保健系统难以承受的水平。第二，一些已建立的仿制药，例如地高辛和卡托普利，价格急剧而迅速地上涨。作为致力于改善全体美国人心血管健康的循证患者倡导组织，美国心脏协会在倡导治疗方法方面具有独特的作用，包括为患者提供可负担，可负担和可及的药物。该通报旨在提出一系列原则，以指导协会致力于实现这一目标。