DOSE OF REALITY: BIG PHARMA SETS NEW RECORD FOR OUT-OF-CONTROL LAUNCH PRICES

Reuters Analysis Finds Prices for Drugs First Entering the Market More Than Doubled in Four Years

In case you missed it, launch prices for prescription drugs first entering the market in the United States more than doubled last year compared to 2021, according to a new Reuters analysis. Big Pharma has been setting increasingly out-of-control launch prices on new medications when they face no competition in the market and have the greatest possible remaining periods of exclusivity — routinely extended through abuse of the U.S. patent system.

“The increase in prices has occurred even as the U.S. government tries to rein in prescription costs,” Reuters notes. “Drug pricing has become a populist issue for President Donald Trump, who has called for drugmakers to bring U.S. prices in line with other high-income nations that pay far less.”

Of the 45 medicines surveyed in 2024, the median annual list price was more than $370,000 compared to a median launch price of $300,000 in 2023 and $222,000 in 2022. A separate study published in the JAMA Network, based on the same criteria as the Reuters survey, found that the median launch price for 30 drugs was $180,000 in 2021. That study, conducted by researchers affiliated with Harvard University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, found that for 14 years, “from 2008 to 2021, launch prices for new drugs increased by 20 percent per year.”

“There is no indication that the trend will slow,” William Padula, professor of pharmaceutical and health economics at the University of Southern California, told Reuters.

Big Pharma’s egregious pricing practices, including setting out-of-control launch prices on new products and anti-competitive tactics, impose an unsustainable burden on American patients, taxpayers and the U.S. health care system.

To hold Big Pharma accountable for outrageous launch prices, The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) supports policies to require drug makers to justify their prices, including through studies that can compare new drugs to existing ones on the market. CSRxP also supports the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issuing an annual report on launch prices and trends to monitor their impact on consumers and taxpayers. Additionally, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) should be empowered with the resources and authorities necessary to conduct cost-effectiveness work to assess whether launch prices and ongoing price increases align with actual value to patients.

Read the Reuters article HERE.

Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.