Drugs

Prices Increases Not Justified for 7 Drugs: ICER

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) says it has identified seven drugs that lack evidence that was adequate to support a claim of additional clinical benefits to justify a price increase. The drugs listed in the group’s first annual report on unsupported price increases of prescription drugs in the U.S. were AbbVie’s Humira (adalimumab), Genentech’s Rituxan (rituximab), Pfizer’s Lyrica (pregabalin), Gilead’s Truvada (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), Amgen’s Neulasta (pegfilgrastim), Lilly’s Cialis (tadalafil), and Biogen’s Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate).

ICER says it ranked the top 100 drugs by sales revenue and then identified the top 10 drugs whose price increases would have contributed to the largest net increase in the U.S. One drug was added to the list following public nomination and ICER then evaluated whether there had been relevant new evidence at any time during the preceding three years that could have supported the price increases.

Drugs assessed that did have new important positive clinical evidence were Celgene’s Revlimid (lenalidomide) and Gilead’s Genovya (elvitegravir/cobicistat/emtricitabine/tenofovir/alafenamide). ICER says its determination that new evidence exists for the two treatments should not be interpreted to mean that the new evidence justifies the level of price increase, since a full cost-effectiveness assessment was not included.

Net price increases for the seven drugs unsupported by new evidence were responsible for increasing total U.S. drug spending by more than $5.1 billion from 2017-2018, ICER says. The drug whose price increases accounted for the greatest single impact on spending, the report says, was Humira, with a 15.9% increase in the study period, after accounting for rebates and other concessions, costing U.S. patients and insurers an estimated $1.86 billion more than if the price had not increased.

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