Prices for Popular Drugs Skyrocketed in 2009: AARP
Analysis
As inflation went negative, retail drug prices
jumped 8.3%; similar climb in manufacturer prices
Aug. 25, 2010 - AARP’s first-ever analysis of
retail price trends of prescription drugs finds prices for widely used
brand name drugs skyrocketed in 2009, climbing more than eight percent
even as general inflation remained negative. The AARP Rx Price Watch
report findings align with the Association’s earlier Rx Watchdog
reports, which found similarly large increases in manufacturer prices
for brand name drugs.
The brand name drug industry has criticized AARP’s
past drug pricing reports for analyzing manufacturer list prices that do
not reflect discounts and rebates often provided by drug makers.
However, the new Rx Price Watch report indicates
that such discounts do little to protect consumers from growth in brand
name prices. While manufacturer prices for widely used brand name drugs
increased 9.3 percent in 2009, retail prices for the same drugs climbed
nearly as quickly at 8.3 percent.
“For the first time, we know that brand name drug
retail prices are growing just as quickly as manufacturer prices,” said
AARP Executive Vice President John Rother.
“These are increases that
hit the wallets of every American, whether through their own health care
bills or the costs of programs like Medicare and Medicaid.”
All but six of the 217 brand name prescription
drugs studied by AARP had retail price increases exceeding general
inflation last year.
Each of the top 25-selling brand name drugs had
price increases, with most jumping more than five percent. Prostate
drug Flomax (0.4 mg capsules) saw the largest increase in this
top-selling group, climbing 24.8 percent during 2009. Flomax first
began facing generic competition in early 2010.
Among brand name manufacturers, products of two
drug makers—Boehringer Ingelheim and BTA Pharmaceuticals—had average
increases of over 15 percent among the drugs studied by AARP. Notably,
manufacturers Merck, Allergan and Alcon had average increases of less
than five percent.
Rother added: “Prescription drugs improve the lives
of millions of Americans. But unless something is done to bring down
their skyrocketing price increases, life-saving medicines will be out of
reach for too many. The health care law made some progress by closing
the Medicare doughnut hole, but Congress and the industry must bring
more competition and transparency to the marketplace.”
AARP is working to lower prescription drug costs
and create more competition in the marketplace. The health care law
enacted earlier this year will begin closing the gap in Medicare drug
coverage in 2011 and provide people who fall into the gap this year with
an extra $250 to help pay for their drug costs.
The Association has
also called on lawmakers to allow for the safe and legal importation of
prescription drugs from abroad, bring generic versions of biologic drugs
to market faster and allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug
prices directly with drug makers.
AARP’s Doughnut Hole Calculator can help people in
Medicare’s Prescription Drug Program find lower cost drugs that can save
them money and keep them out of Medicare’s dreaded coverage gap. The
calculator, available at www.aarp.org/doughnuthole, finds available
options based on their current prescriptions and creates a customized
letter to help people start a conversation with their doctor about
switching to safe, lower cost drugs.
The list of prescription drugs analyzed in the AARP
Rx Price Watch report is based on the drug products most widely
prescribed to people in Medicare Part D. Price changes are measured
using retail prices as reported by the Thomson Reuters MarketScan®
Research Databases.
>> For a complete copy of the AARP Rx Price
Watch report,
Click Here
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