Tuesday, June 08, 2010
While Congress struggled to adopt national healthcare reform throughout last year and into the beginning of 2010, pharmaceutical manufacturers continued to hike the price of name-brand medications.
An analysis of drug prices by the AARP Public Policy Institute revealed that brand name drugs rose more than 9% from March 2009 to March 2010—despite the fact that inflation was close to zero for consumer goods.
Some individual medications rocketed even higher during the one-year period under review. Flomax, for example, leaped 27.6% in cost.
Although brand name pharmaceuticals went up in price, generic drugs fell by an average of 9%.
-David Wallechinsky
Brand Name and Specialty Drug Prices Continue to Climb (Rx Watchdog Report, AARP) (pdf)
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