The desk exhibits the ten prescription medicines that had worth will increase in 2021 that have been unsupported by new medical proof. Reprinted with permission. Supply: Rind DM, Agboola F, Campbell J, Nikitin D, et al. Unsupported Worth Improve Report: Unsupported Worth Will increase Occurring in 2021. December 6, 2022. ICER.
Final yr, the makers of seven extensively used prescribed drugs raised costs considerably with none new medical proof to justify the will increase, Ed Silverman reported at STAT Information final week.
Silverman based mostly his reporting on an evaluation from the impartial nonprofit Institute for Medical and Financial Evaluation (ICER) that analyzes proof on the effectiveness and worth of medication and different medical companies. ICER launched that report, “Unsupported Worth Will increase (UPI) of prescribed drugs in america,” on Tuesday, Dec. 6.
Rising drug costs is a vital situation for all well being care journalists as a result of, as Silverman and different journalists famous, the elevated costs on these seven medication alone brought about sufferers and well being insurers to spend a further $805 million final yr.
The costs drugmakers cost for prescribed drugs is essential for 3 different causes:
First, till ICER began doing this analysis in 2019, there was no systematic method on the state or nationwide stage to find out whether or not new medical proof or different elements would justify such worth will increase, the report famous. This yr’s report is the fourth that ICER has produced.
Second, People spend extra on prescribed drugs than anybody else on the earth, as Robert Langreth reported for Bloomberg in July. The typical prices of those medication are about $1,300 per particular person per yr, and the median launch worth of a brand new drug in america final yr was $180,000 for a yr’s provide, he added.
Third, non-public insurers and authorities applications pay for many of the prices of prescribed drugs, however these excessive prices in the end are handed on to residents by means of increased medical health insurance premiums and thru the taxes they pay to state and federal authorities, Langreth defined.
Bhanvi Satija coated the ICER report for Reuters, explaining that in its report final yr, a major motive for the expansion in spending resulted from worth will increase on one drug, Humira, a medicine from Abbvie for sufferers with rheumatoid arthritis. That drug alone accounted for an nearly $1.4 billion enhance in U.S. drug spending, representing greater than 80% of the whole enhance in spending in 2020, she wrote.
In her protection, Satija quoted ICER’s Chief Medical Officer David Rind saying the report this yr confirmed the whole enhance of $805 million was extra unfold out amongst completely different medicines.
On this yr’s 143-page report, ICER assessed the highest 10 medication with web worth will increase final yr that had substantial results on drug spending in america, ICER mentioned, and located that seven of these medication lacked satisfactory new proof to assist any worth enhance.
Since 2019, ICER has revealed annual stories assessing whether or not new medical proof or different data has appeared that would assist the worth will increase of medication whose latest, substantial worth will increase have had the most important impact on nationwide drug spending.
For this yr’s report, ICER acquired a listing of the 250 medication with the most important gross sales income in 2021 from SSR Well being LLC, an impartial funding analysis agency, ICER defined in a press launch.
To evaluate which medicines to investigate extra carefully, ICER analyzed the will increase within the wholesale acquisition value (or record worth) that exceeded the buyer worth index plus 2%, the report famous.
Then, the researchers recognized the medicines that had web worth will increase that positioned them on the high of the record of medication even after accounting for rebates and different concessions. As well as, the researchers recognized the highest 10 medication whose worth will increase — and never will increase in gross sales quantity — contributed to the most important enhance in spending in america, ICER added.
