It's a common belief that rising drug prices are due to the high cost of cutting-edge medications, with manufacturers charging a bundle to make back development expenses for their new products.
But drug companies have also been steadily hiking prices on older brand-name drugs, a new study reports.
Increasing prices for brand-name pills outpaced the nation's overall rate of inflation nearly fivefold between 2005 and 2016, with consumers paying about 9 percent more every year for the same old drugs between 2005 and 2016.
The price of injectable brand-name drugs increased by 15 percent yearly during the same period, researchers found.
"In the brand-name market, prices are increasing really fast and that's almost solely due to inflation in existing products," said lead researcher Inmaculada Hernandez. She's an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy.
The EpiPen and brand-name insulin products are two prime examples of drugs that have been on the market for a long time, yet have undergone massive price hikes in recent years, Hernandez noted.
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Guaifenesin is an expectorant that's been used in the U.S. for over half a century, and was very, very inexpensive. A few drug companies started marketing it under their own names (i.e., Mucinex, etc.) and have jacked up the price by over 2000%, and it keeps going higher.
ReplyDeleteIt should be easy for politicians to side with the people to limit prescription drug prices. But Obama made a deal with the drug companies so they would support Obamacare. They opposed the act until Obama invited them to a meeting at the WH. Remember? It is obvious politicians are turning their heads away from this subject because of benefits to them. Just follow the money.
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