High-Cost Generic Drugs — Implications for Patients and Policymakers

Generic, yet not generic

“…Aaron Kesselheim and his colleagues have recently traced the increases in pricing for particular generic drugs (fifty-fold, in the case of doxycycline) in response to such market logics. 16 What was conceived as a "rational" approach to ensuring drug access has thus become as beholden to the market as any other commodity, much to our surprise and to congress' consternation. 17…”

High Cost of Healthcare in the United States-A Manifestation of Corporate Greed

“…After acquisition of the marketing rights by CorePharma, the price of albendazole rose steadily to $119.58 per daily dose by 2013. This price rise is reflected in overall increase in healthcare costs [13]. The Medicaid data shows that spending on albendazole increased from less than $100,000 per year in 2008, when the average cost of a prescription was $36.10, to more than $7.5 million in 2013, when the average cost was $241.30 per prescription [10].…”

The ongoing threat of rising drug prices: ASHP’s work goes on

“…Even generic medications, which have been a mainstay in efforts to control drug costs, have not been immune to these price increases. 2,3 While the policy solutions required to address these dramatic increases in spending for prescription drugs are complex, the consequences of the ongoing increases in drug expenditures across the U.S. healthcare system that have been witnessed over almost two decades-from $106.1 billion in 1998 to $421.3 billion in 2015-are obvious. 4 Patients, healthcare provider organizations, and insurers must now make extremely difficult decisions about purchasing medications, a fundamental component of healthcare.…”