Ms. Rosenberg said the initial focus of the study was not to expose the pricing increases from the drug companies, but to provide a database of drug costs for dermatologists in Florida when prescribing drugs for their patients.
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Researchers analyzed the increase in price for 19 drugs between the period 2009 and 2015, and the increase ranged from some 60% to 1,700% with the average pegging around 400%.
Researchers found that 19 brand-name dermatological drugs underwent a price hike of an average of 401 percent since 2009. “We’re not talking about drugs that are listed as being in shortage”, said Dr. Steven P. Rosenberg, a researcher at the University of Miami, told the New York Times.
Prices of drugs in the antiinfective class had the smallest average absolute increase of nearly $334. Therefore, they also cross checked with the pharmacists to ensure that the findings were accurate. Two of the most significant price increases involved medications manufactured by Canadian drug firm Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., which is one of the companies recently facing controversy after they bought the rights to sell older drugs whose patents have expired only to immediately increase their price. The study author said about 20% United States patientsdid not fill at least one prescription due to cost a year ago.
Rosenberg, M.D., of the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, and Miranda E. Rosenberg, B.A., of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, surveyed prescription drug prices at four national chain pharmacies in the West Palm Beach, Fla., area (Costco, CVS, Sam’s Club and Walgreens) in 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2015.
Some people are blaming insurance companies, particularly those who don’t update coverage to accommodate the price hike or have higher deductibles. The survey was repeated in 2011, 2014 and 2015.
While the researchers collected data on about 100 drugs, they narrowed the current analysis to 19 for which they had information spanning all four surveys. The prices of anti-infective drugs went up to a meager average of $333.
Prices of psoriasis medications had the smallest average percentage increase of 180 percent.
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“As health insurance programs become more restrictive with their formularies or promote policies with high deductibles, patients are increasingly being forced to pay retail prices out of pocket for the drugs that will help them most”, the researchers wrote. A 30-gram tube of generic nystatin-triamcinolone rose from $9.15 in 2011 to $103.88 in 2014, a 10-fold price increase.
