The price of prescription creams, gels and ointments has been soaring. A study published in JAMA Dermatology looked at the retail costs of dermatologic drugs in 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2015. What they found is beyond shocking!
The authors point out that Americans pay more for their prescription drugs than people anywhere else in the world. They also note that:
“As health insurance programs become more restrictive with their formularies or promote policies with high deductibles, patients are increasingly being forced to pay retail prices out of pocket for the drugs that will help them most.”
The Results of the Dermatological Drug Survey:
By the end of the investigation, the researchers had checked prices on 120 different brand name or generic medications. They honed in on 19 brand name medicines that are frequently prescribed. The prices of these important drugs went up over 400 percent during the survey period.
Corticosteroids:
Corticosteroids, which are mainstays of dermatological prescribing, went up nearly 300 percent.
Drugs for Psoriasis
The psoriasis drug Oxsoralen-Ultra (50 capsules) went from $1,227.32 in 2009 to $5,204.31 in 2015. (That is 424 percent.)
Skin Cancer Treatments:
Skin cancer medications went up 1,240 percent, on average. These were also the most expensive drugs. A drug named Solaraze gel is prescribed primarily for treating actinic keratoses, a pre-cancerous skin condition. A 100 gram tube went from $442.89 in 2009 to $1,883.98 (a 325 percent change) in 2015.
Targretin gel is prescribed for the skin manifestations of T-cell lymphoma. It went from $1,686.78 a tube to $30,320.12 a tube over the six-year timespan. Patients frequently need more than one tube a month. If you do the math, you will be as incredulous as we are.
The Dermatologists’ Take Home Message:
The authors conclude that
“The increase in prices of the surveyed medications far outpaced the national consumer price index inflation rate of 11% between 2009 and 2015.”
They also pointed out that prescription drug prices in general are rising way faster than inflation, gross domestic product or other health care expenditures. In other words, the drug companies are gouging the American public at rates that are beyond anything seen in recent memory by any other industry.
Just the Tip of the Iceberg:
If you are not outraged, we don’t know what it will take. Remember Martin Shkreli? He is the head of Turing Pharmaceuticals. When his company acquired the life-saving drug Daraprim (pyrimethamine) it boosted the price over 5000 percent. The drug is prescribed to people with compromised immune systems like HIV/AIDS or cancer who come down with toxoplasmosis. This parasitic infection can kill. More details here and here.
Mr. Shkreli raised the price of this 62-year-old drug from $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill and immediately became a target of outrage from health professionals, politicians and the public. When the heat became overwhelming, Mr. Shkreli pledged to lower the price, though he didn’t reveal by how much. Now the company says it will provide drug discounts to hospitals when they buy in bulk, but the price per pill is reportedly staying at $750.
Not Mad Enough…Check Out This New CF Drug!
The Associated Press has just reported that a game-changing cystic fibrosis (CF) drug called Orkambi will cost “$710 per patient per day.” Unlike the toxoplasmosis drug Daraprim, which may only have to be taken for a few months, CF patients need to take medicine daily to keep their lungs open enough to breathe. The annual cost for one patient could be $259,150. Most patients will need to take this medicine for years, if not decades. Run the numbers and you will see that this is not sustainable. The cost after 10 years for one CF patient exceeds $2.5 million.
The Corruption of the Orphan Drug Act:
We recently asked the question: “Is Drug Company Greed Out of Control?” We described the Orphan Drug Act of 1983 that was supposed to encourage drug companies to develop medicines that most people at the time assumed would not be profitable.
That’s because in those days Senators and Representatives never imagined that drug companies would have the nerve to charge outrageous prices for life-saving drugs that would be taken by relatively few people. These medicines were referred to as “significant drugs of limited commercial value.” That’s why Congress granted drug companies special tax breaks and other incentives to develop orphan drugs.
Sadly, drug companies have seemingly taken advantage of the tax breaks and other benefits but have also gone on to charge unbelievable prices. Many companies are making out like bandits because of orphan drugs. Perhaps it is time for the Congress of the United States to either withdraw the incentives it created to encourage orphan drug development or limit the prices companies can charge for these life-saving medications.
What do you think? Should drug companies get to have their cake and eat it too (tax breaks and breathtaking prices)? Please vote on this article at the top of the page and share your thoughts at the bottom.
