Drug prices are rising in the U. S.
2023.01.05 07:49
Drug prices are rising in the U. S.
Budrigannews.com – A Reuters analysis has found that drugmakers continued to launch medicines at high prices in the second half of 2022, highlighting their power despite new legislation to lower prices for older prescription products. In the first half of 2022, drugmakers set record-high prices in the United States.
According to Reuters, the 17 novel drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have a median annual price of $193,900, down from $257,000 in the first half of 2022. The median for the entire year 2022 was $222,003.
According to a recent study that was published in JAMA, the 30 drugs that were first put on the market through the middle of July in 2021 had a median annual price of $180,000.
The most recent figures indicate price increases of double digits year over year.
According to Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, a professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, “I don’t see anything changing that trend.” According to Kesselheim, who was a co-author of the JAMA study, Congress will eventually have to deal with launch prices that are too high.
The FDA approved three expensive one-time gene therapies in the second half of 2022, according to the Reuters analysis. When the $3.5 million Hemgenix, CSL Ltd. (CSL.AX) gene therapy for hemophilia B was approved in November, it became the most expensive drug ever.
Drugs intended for use as part of bundled reimbursement in a hospital setting, imaging agents, products that have not yet been launched commercially, and drugs used intermittently or for cosmetic purposes are all excluded from the analysis.
A recent analysis by Democratic U.S. Representative Katie Porter found that the average annual cost of a newly introduced cancer drug in the United States in 2021 was $283,000, a 53% increase from 2017.
The pharmaceutical industry asserts that new medications, many of which treat rare diseases, offer value, including the possibility of fewer hospitalizations and visits to the emergency room.
Additionally, pharmaceutical companies emphasize that they are not in charge of determining how much patients in the United States will pay for their medications. To cut down on out-of-pocket expenses, many offer savings cards and other programs.
When competing treatments become available, health insurers and other payers frequently demand discounts and rebates on prescription drugs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that as patents expire, cheaper generics also reduce prescription drug price inflation, which was 1.9% from November 2022 to November 2023.
The landmark Inflation Reduction Act, which Congress passed last year, caps annual drug price increases and gives the Medicare health program for seniors the ability to negotiate prices for up to 20 of the drugs it spends the most on.
However, the law does not restrict the prices that pharmaceutical companies can charge for new medications.
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