While the pricing focus on pharmaceuticals has been on designer drugs that fight such diseases as hepatitis C and cancer, billions in new revenue has been flowing into Big Pharma pockets due to substantial increases in the price of garden variety pills.
Reuters examined five year pricing trends for prescription drugs that control cholesterol, asthma, arthritis, acid reflux, and other conditions not considered to be immediately life threatening.
The analysis found that, of the 10 most commonly prescribed drugs in the U.S., four experienced increases in excess of 100 percent. The others rose more than 50 percent. Reuters said that, while the price spikes for new drugs have gained national attention, the steady upward movement of the top 10 got less attention, but contributed much more to the overall prescription drug increase.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
