The Medicare prescription drug benefit (Part D) has successfully provided affordable access to medicines for millions of seniors over the past 13 years. However, in some ways the program’s benefit design has not kept pace with today’s biopharmaceutical science.

In an op-ed published in STAT, Astellas Pharma US President Percival Barretto-Ko shares some ideas to modernize Medicare Part D to help alleviate the high out-of-pocket costs faced by patients battling cancer and other serious diseases.

In his piece, entitled “Medicare Part D must evolve to help people fight cancer,” Percival offers four solutions aimed at evolving the program to best serve the needs of seniors confronting serious illnesses. Click here to read the full op-ed.