Are extraordinary drug price increases on your radar?

[diana.papshev]

Sure, everyone has heard of a huge price increase with Acthar gel but did you know that there were 32 branded products with a price increase of at least 100% in 2008?

According to the witness statement given at the July hearing of the Congress' Joint Economic Committee (JEC), large price increases are becoming more common for single source and off-patent branded products. Researches from the PRIME Institute of the University of Minnesota indicated that during the past 20 years the number of products with an extraordinary price increase in a given year jumped from 5 to 64 (projected estimate for 2008).

Some of the egregious examples included:
• Matulane (7999% increase)
• Cosmogen (3436% increase)
• Acthar (1310% increase)
• Indocin IV (1278%)
• Mustargen (979%)
• Norvir (500%)

What’s your experience? Is this trend on your radar and how are you managing it?

The proceedings of the hearing have been posted on JEC’s website

[chris.jarosz]

We have not seen huge price adjustments on the hemophilia factor products. These prices just slowly adjust upward each year or remain stable but the reimbursement from the payers slowly adjusts downward. The largest reimbursement decrease right now is the 10% decrease in the California MediCal reimbursement.