- 1,065
Over 60 percent of Americans believe that lowering drug prices should be the top health care priority for the federal government.1 Recent public controversies surrounding the drug companies Turing and Valient and the pricing of sofosbuvir, EpiPens, insulin, nusinersen, and ivacaftor attest to deep public concerns over the increasingly high prices of drugs (exhibit 1). Drug costs as a proportion of US medical expenditures have increased with the growth of specialty drugs and substantial price hikes for some existing brand-name and generic drugs.2 For instance, since 2012 the proportion of Medicare spending going to drugs (Part D) has increased from 17 percent to 23 percent.3 Prescription drug spending is expected to increase by an average of 6.3 percent per year through 2025.4 Recently approved drugs have gargantuan prices, some of which exceed $500,000 per treatment. As more specialty drugs are approved and drug prices continue to increase, public concern over the costs of pharmaceuticals is likely to intensify.
https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/1...4201823&utm_content=drug+costs&utm_source=hat
Exhibit 1 Annual retail prices for specialty drugs and treatments
https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/1...4201823&utm_content=drug+costs&utm_source=hat
Exhibit 1 Annual retail prices for specialty drugs and treatments
| Generic name | Brand name | Dosing | Disease | Annual retail price |
| Nusinersena | Spinraza | 4 loading doses of 12 mg, followed by a dose every 4 months for life | Spinal muscular atrophy | $750,000 for year 1, $375,00 for subsequent years |
| Eculizumabb | Soliris | 600 mg/week for 4 weeks | Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria | $542,640 |
| Voretigene neparvovecc | Luxturna | One-time treatment | Genetic blindness (RPE65 defect) | $500,000 per eye |
| Chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy | Kymriahd | One-time treatment | B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia | $475,000 |
| Axicabtagene ciloleucel | Yescartad | One-time treatment | Lymphoma | $373,000 |
| Ivacaftorb | Kalydeco | 300 mg/day for duration of life | Cystic fibrosis | $368,688 |
| Bevacizumabb | Avastin | 10 mg/kg as long as side effects are manageable | Colorectal cancer | $149,893 |
| Imatinibb | Gleevec | 400 mg/day until remission | Chronic myelogenous leukemia | $145,764 |
| Ipilimumabb | Yervoy | 10 mg/kg every 3 weeks for 4 doses, then every 3 months for 3 years | Melanoma | $143,838 |
| Saprotein dihydrochlorideb | Kuvan | 5–20 mg/kg daily for life | Phenylkentonuria | $113,232 |
| Ledispasvir 90/Sofosbuvir 400 | Harvonie | One-time treatment | Hepatitis C | $94,500 |
| Sofosbuvir | Sovaldie | One-time treatment | Hepatitis C | $84,000 |
| Deflazacortf | Emflaza | 22.75 mg/ml as long as side effects are manageable | Duchenne muscular dystrophy | $35,000 |
