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Drug makers increased the average wholesale price of 26 trade name drugs by 100% or more in a unmarried cost adaption last year, compared with comparable price increases for 15 drugs in 2004, according to University of Minnesota researchers, USA Today reports. In the number one half of 2008, the average wholesale prices of 17 drugs have increased by at least 100%. According to USA Today, many of the prices that ar "quietly" existence raised ar for older products used to treat rare merely often serious conditions.
Alan Goldbloom, president of Children's Hospitals and Clinics in Minnesota, aforesaid, "This does drive up the price of wellness care," adding, "Hospitals are either eating the price or passing game it along to insurers, so you and I are paying it in increased premiums."
According to pharmaceutics benefits manager Express Scripts, the average wholesale prices of 1,344 brand name drugs increased by an average of 7.4% last year. Stephen Schondelmeyer, director the PRIME Institute at the University of Minnesota, said, "There is no uncomplicated explanation" for why certain drugs experienced the bigger increase. "Some companies seem to figure no one is watching so they can catch away with it," Schondelmeyer said. "Drug companies say the price hikes cover the costs of keeping the drugs on the market," USA Today reports.
Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) last hebdomad asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate cases of large price increases. Klobuchar before this year also asked the Federal Trade Commission to enquire a company that had increased the average wholesale prices of four drugs by up to 3,436% in 2006 (Appleby, USA Today, 8/8).
Reprinted with kind permission from hTTP://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can position the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, lookup the archives, or sign up for email delivery at hTTP://www.kaisernetwork.
