As Senate Democrats made progress towards a limited deal to regulate prescription drug prices that are out of control, the U.S. pharmaceutical sector used its almost unlimited pricing power to increase patient costs this month. millions Many people will have to ration their medication, or go without it altogether.
A new analysis Patients for Affordable Drugs released Wednesday’s estimates that U.S. pharmaceutical companies have increased drug prices by 1,186 times this year. This further bolsters their bottom lines and increases the already high cost burden on patients.
Patients for Affordable Drugs found Pharmaceutical companies raised prices for 133 products between June 24th, 2015, and July 5th, 2015. Pfizer, for example, increased the price of its Leukemia medication Besponsa by $1.056 this month.
“This is Pfizer’s fourth hike on the cancer drug during the Covid-19 pandemic — even as the company enjoys record-shattering profits from its vaccine,” the analysis notes.
The patient group also spotlighted Amgen’s price hikes for its Enbrel is an anti-autoimmune drug. The California-based firm’s price increases for the medication have exceeded even the record-high U.S. inflation rate.
Amgen’s two price hikes for Enbrel this year alone are particularly brazen given that the company has faced recent congressional scrutinyover its business practices.
“Americans are struggling with record inflation and the continued challenges of a pandemic,” David Mitchell, the founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs, said in a statement. “Yet Big Pharma continues to raise drug prices with no regard for the health and financial well-being of Americans.”
Mitchell, a patient with incurable blood cancer whose drugs come with an annual list price of more than $900,000, argued that the pharmaceutical industry’s “latest price hikes demonstrate again why the Senate must stand up for the American people and pass the comprehensive drug pricing reforms in the reconciliation package.”
“These reforms are overwhelmingly supported by Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike, and the votes are there to pass the package immediately,” said Mitchell. “We must put an end to drug corporations’ unfettered ability to dictate prices at the expense of patients.”
Senate Democrats met earlier in the month. unveiled 190 pages of legislative content containing their plan for Medicare to negotiate the price of a small number of prescription drugs directly through pharmaceutical companies. Other cost-saving measures are also included in the proposal, including a $2,000 per year cap on out-of pocket prescription drug payments for Medicare Part D enrollees.
But there are other things. The American Prospect’s David Dayen noted earlier this month in a detailed look at the plan — which has predictably drawn opposition from the pharmaceutical industry — the legislation’s scope is highly restricted.
“In earlier versions of the bill, the negotiated prices would have been accessible to all insurance payers,” Dayen observed. “But in this bill, the prices are only available to Medicare recipients. Part B (for drugs given at hospitals) and Part D (the Medicare prescription drug benefit) drugs that Medicare spends high amounts on are eligible.”
“The drugs eligible for negotiation also have to be at least 7 to 11 years beyond their approval stage, meaning that there’s still an exclusivity buffer where newer drugs can charge whatever they want,” he continued. “Since no drug can get a negotiated price at launch, this is likely to lead to higher launch prices.”
Launch prices are already in high demand: Research published last month revealed that nearly half the new brand-name prescription medications launched in the U.S. between 2020 and 2021 had an annual price tag of $150,000 or higher.
Ashley Suder, a patient in Morgantown, West Virginia who takes GSK’s Benlysta to manage her lupus, said that she’s had to spend “her entire paycheck” on her medications. It’s a common occurrence in the U.S., where patients often spend their entire paycheck on medications. far more prescription drugs than their counterparts from other rich countries.
Benlysta now has a monthly cost of $4,282 due to the recent price hikes.
“Without this drug, my immune system attacks my healthy tissue, resulting in painful inflammation that damages my skin, joints, blood vessels, and brain,” Suder said. “With the price increasing again, I worry about how I’ll make ends meet while still affording my drugs.”
