Trends in retail prices of specialty prescription drugs widely used by older Americans, 2006 to 2020
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Rx price watch
- Author(s):
- Schondelmeyer, Stephen W., author Purvis, Leigh, author
- Contributor(s):
- AARP (Organization), issuing body. Public Policy Institute (AARP (Organization)), issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, DC : AARP Public Policy Institute, September 2021
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Drug Costs -- trends Prescription Drugs -- economics Aged United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- OVERVIEW OF FINDINGS. (1) In 2020, prices for 180 widely used specialty prescription drugs increased by 4.8 percent, more than three and a half times faster than general inflation in 2020 (1.3 percent). Despite being more than three and a half times higher than inflation, this was the slowest average annual price increase for widely used specialty prescription drugs since at least 2006. (2) The average annual cost of therapy for a single specialty medication used on a chronic basis was more than $84,000 in 2020. (3) The average annual cost for one specialty medication used on a chronic basis would have been $39,068 in 2020--more than $45,000 lower--if the price changes for these products had been limited to general inflation from 2006 to 2020. (4) In 2020, the average annual price of therapy for specialty prescription drugs was almost 13 times higher than the average annual price of therapy for brand name prescription drugs ($84,442 v. $6,604, respectively). (5) Prices for 11 chronic-use specialty drugs that have been on the market since the beginning of the study (i.e., between January 2006 and December 2020) increased cumulatively by an average of 234.2 percent over 15 years. In contrast, general inflation in the US economy rose 32.0 percent during the same 15-year period. (6) In 2020, nearly three-quarters (129 of 180) of the most widely used specialty drug products had retail price increases of more than double the rate of inflation in 2020 (1.3 percent). (7) Prices for 93 percent (28 of 30) of drug manufacturers with at least two specialty drug products in the study’s market basket increased faster than the rate of general inflation (1.3 percent) in 2020. Eight drug manufacturers had average annual price increases for their specialty drugs of 5.2 percent or more during 2020--more than four times the rate of general inflation in 2020. (8) Nearly three-quarters (22 of 30) of the therapeutic categories of specialty drug products had average annual price increases of 2.6 percent or greater--more than twice the rate of general inflation in 2020.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (30 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918383861006676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918383861006676