Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to begin by thanking the witnesses for joining us and for their highly inspiring testimony, especially Ms. Wong-Rieger's and Ms. Smith's testimony.
Orphan drugs are very expensive; that's the norm. Those are the most obvious cases. How can those medications be assessed? My concern is really the assessment of those medications and their cost effectiveness. Of course, we would like something that costs a lot to be very effective. However, that's not often the case, and those medications will not be on the list. This issue has been discussed on several occasions.
What are the assessment steps for those orphan drugs to be put on a list? My question is for each of the witnesses. How is a ranking established to ensure that an orphan drug ends up on the list?
Mr. McCabe, I would like to hear your comments on this.