Some Drug Prices Up for 2019: Reports

Some drug companies started 2019 with price increases on more than 250 prescription drugs, with more likely to come, according to multiple media reports. Relying on data from Rx Savings Solutions, which helps health plans and employers find lower cost prescription drugs, Reuters reports that Allergan raised prices on more than 50 drugs, with more than half of the increases being 9.5%. The news service notes that the pace of price hikes was slower than last year, when companies raised prices on more than 400 medicines.

According to Reuters, AbbVie increased the list price of its arthritis drug Humira by 6.2%.  

The Hill says the Wall Street Journal reported that more than three dozen companies raised prices on hundreds of drugs, including generics.

Rx Savings Solutions CEO Michael Rea told the Journal that such price increases face little oversight in the U.S. “The reason it can keep happening is there is no market check, no person or entity to bring reason to determining drug prices,” he reportedly said.

Reuters reported that the industry has been under pressure from President Donald Trump to hold prices level while the administration works on plans to lower the cost of medicines. At a 1/2 cabinet meeting, Trump said he expected to see a tremendous decrease in drug prices.

Responding to the news accounts, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said the Rx Savings analysis “provides a flawed and inaccurate portrayal of the U.S. marketplace for medicines. The data focus on a selective sample of companies and medicines and ignores how the competitive market works to control costs. Due to negotiations in the market, retail medicine costs grew just 0.4% in 2017, the slowest rate since 2012, and net prices for brand medicines grew just 1.9%. That is because, on average, 40% of the list price of medicines is given as rebates or discounts to insurance companies, the government, pharmacy benefit managers, and other entities in the supply chain that often require large rebates in order for a medicine to be covered….These savings are often not shared with patients, whose out-of-pocket costs continue to soar. We need to change the incentives in the supply chain that fuel higher rebates and prices and do more to ensure rebates are used to lower costs for patients at the pharmacy counter.”