Despite criticism from patients, insurers and lawmakers, pharmaceutical companies have continued to increase the cost of drugs, with many hiking prices by 10% or more just before or after the New Year.
Pfizer, Amgen, Allergan, Horizon Pharma, Vanda Pharmaceuticals and Acorda Therapeutics were among those imposing double-digit price increases, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper’s healthcare reporter, Peter Loftus, points out that the increases are on list prices, before discounts or rebates to insurers, and free supplies provided to some indigent patients.
Spending on prescription drugs rose by 12.2% in 2014, compared to just 2.4% the prior year, Loftus reports.
Pfizer Inc. increased its prices for 60 medications, each of which has U.S. sales of $10 million or more, by an average of 10.6% on Jan. 1, with prices for eight of the drugs rising by 20% or more, according to the Journal.
Amgen raised the price of Enbrel, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and several other diseases, by 8% in December on top of increases of 8% in September and 10% in May. The cost of Enbrel to a patient with rheumatoid arthritis is over $700 per week, or $36,000 a year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
The newspaper quotes an Amgen spokesperson as saying that the price of the drug reflects its efficacy and helps pay for “continued scientific innovation” by Amgen.
For the nine months ended September 30, Amgen reported profits after taxes of $5.1 billion on revenues of $16.1 billion. Profits were up 33% from the similar period a year earlier, on a 9.5% increase in revenues.
The article reported that the price of Ampyra, used by patients with multiple sclerosis and made by Acorda Therapeutics Inc., rose by 11% on New Year’s Day to more than $23,000 per year.
The cost of ActImmune, from Horizon Pharma, Inc., used by patients who have difficulty fighting infections and by children whose bones develop abnormally, increased over 9%.
Mary Brainert, president and CEO of HealthPartners, a Minnesota-based nonprofit health care organization, told the newspaper that the continuing increases in drug prices “are becoming increasingly intolerable for consumers, health plans, doctors and hospitals.”
Ron Cohen, M.D., president and CEO of Acorda, defended the higher prices as “our way of insuring that we can survive and develop these programs and bring these new innovative drugs to market.”