- The median annual price for new US drugs this year is $257,000
- Eight out of 13 drugs launched in 2022 cost over $200,000 a year
- Some drug manufacturers disclose less pricing information
Aug 15 (Portal) – Drugmakers are launching new drugs at record high prices this year, a Portal analysis found, underscoring their pricing power even as Congress seeks to squash the annual budget for prescription drugs worth over 500 billion Shorten US dollars in the United States.
At the same time, some drugmakers are disclosing less information about the pricing of these treatments, which have come under closer scrutiny in recent years, Portal noted.
“In the United States, we allow drug manufacturers to freely set the price of any branded drug,” said Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told Portal.
The average annual price of 13 novel drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for chronic diseases is $257,000 so far this year, according to Portal.
They were in good company: seven other newly launched drugs were priced in excess of $200,000. Three other drugs introduced in 2022 will only be used intermittently and were not included in the calculation.
The average annual price for the 30 drugs first marketed through mid-July 2021 rose to $180,000 last year, according to a study recently published in JAMA.
Although the Portal tally does not fully replicate the work of this study, it does show that the direction in which new drug prices continue to rise.
The JAMA study also excluded medications that are used intermittently. It included an adjustment for the fact that drugs for very rare diseases have higher prices, which Portal didn’t.
The pharmaceutical industry says the prices of new drugs, many of which now treat rare diseases for which no treatments exist, reflect their value to patients, including the ability to avoid costly emergency room visits and hospital stays.
Drug makers also stress that they don’t determine what US patients end up paying for the drugs.
“Each person’s individual (health) insurer and plan determines the expenses,” Eli Lilly & Co responded to a question about the $12,700 annual price for its new diabetes drug Mounjaro, adding that the company offers savings cards for these Reduce costs to just $25 per month.
“An Attempt to Distract”
At the same time, it has become more difficult to confirm information on drug prices. Portal requested price data from all 15 companies that launched new drugs this year.
Six of the manufacturers either did not respond to a request for pricing details or initially provided only partial information, such as: B. Cost “per vial” instead of annual cost based on average patient usage as they had in the past.
Sanofi (SASY.PA) said its new drug Enjaymo, used to treat a rare type of anemia, is priced at $1,800 per vial. Upon further urging, the French healthcare group clarified that the typical annual price is $280,800.
Immunocore (IMCR.O) initially announced just a “per vial” price for melanoma drug Kimmtrak, and Dermavant Sciences just announced a “per tube” price for its new psoriasis cream. Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY.N) named a price “per infusion” for the cancer treatment Opdualag. All three eventually delivered annual awards.
CTI BioPharma (CTIC.O) referred Portal to a third-party database but later gave a monthly price for its rare anemia treatment Vonjo. Mycovia Pharmaceuticals said that “as a private company” there would be no information on the price of its antifungal drug Vivjoa.
dr Ameet Sarwaptwari, a Harvard University professor specializing in health law, said such incomplete disclosure “could be an attempt to distract from the high annual costs.”
Some drugmakers respond by saying that treatment costs can vary based on patient weight and other factors, making it difficult to estimate prices for the average patient.
Congress last week passed the landmark $430 billion inflation-reduction law that caps annual drug price increases and allows the Medicare health program for seniors to negotiate prices on up to 20 of the drugs it’s allowed to pass on spends most.
However, the bill does not limit what drugmakers can charge for new drugs. Some industry experts say this could make manufacturers even more dependent on higher introductory prices.
“The industry will turn to new drugs to try to take advantage of the leverage that is left unchecked,” said Daniel Ollendorf of the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health at Tufts Medical Center.
The study on drug prices published by JAMA showed that between 2008 and 2021 US launch drug prices increased by 20% annually.
On a net basis, which accounts for volume-based rebates and other rebates that health insurers negotiate with drugmakers, prices for new drugs rose 11% per year, according to the study, led by researchers at the Boston-based Program for Regulation, Therapeutics , and Law and dated Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Portal has not calculated a comparable increase for 2022 as such discounts are not published.
Discounts and rebates are often required by payers for new drugs as competing treatments become available. As patents expire, lower-cost generic drugs are also mitigating prescription drug price inflation, which rose 2.8% in the 12 months to July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“The vast majority of drugs Americans use are generic,” said Rena Conti, an associate professor at Boston University’s business school. Drugs for diseases with few treatment options fetch the highest prices, she said.
Reporting by Deena Beasley in Los Angeles; Edited by Caroline Humer, Michele Gershberg and Deepa Babington
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