Huge Increases in U.S. Drug prices:
a Study
By Jonathan gardner, Deputy News Editor, EP Vantage
Seven drugs in the top 100 now cost more than $100,000 per
patient a year, up from four in 2010. And the number costing less
than $1,000 has been cut in half to 19, a sign of pharma’s emerging
price strategy, according to the white paper. This step change will
challenge payer coverage as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) adds
millions of patients to health insurance rolls in coming years.
The median annual per-patient revenue of these top 100 drugs
stands at $9,396, compared with $1,258 in 2010, according to the
analysis derived from EvaluatePharma’s USA Sales, Volume &
Price module. Confirming the pharma industry’s focus on orphan
diseases in recent years, the median population treated by the drugs
in the top 100 has shrunk from 689,604 to 146,252. (See diagram 1,
page 24, top)
The median annual price of
the 100 top-selling drugs
in the US has increased
more than sevenfold since
2010, according to a new
analysis published by
EvaluatePharma®.
