Clinical Edge

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Price inflation driven by old and new drugs

Hernandez I et al. Health Aff (Millwood). 2019 Jan. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05147

Key clinical point: Price inflation in existing drugs and new product introductions are driving increases in pharmaceutical costs.

Major finding: 71% of oral specialty drug price increases during 2005-2019 are attributable to new products.

Study details: Researchers analyzed the wholesale acquisition prices of 24,877 oral drugs and 3,049 injectable drugs and compared them with pharmacy claims across all public and private insurance products offered by the UPMC Health Plan.

Disclosures: The authors provided no disclosures.

Read the article here.

Citation:

Hernandez I et al. Health Aff (Millwood). 2019 Jan. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05147.