A study led by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital has found that median launch prices for new drugs have grown 85 times higher compared to prices in 2008 in the United States, resulting in higher pharmaceutical expenditures for consumers.
Median launch prices for new drugs have increased from costing $2,115 in 2008 to $180,000 per year in 2021. From 2018 to 2013, only 9 percent of the newly released drugs were priced at $150,000 a year, whereas drugs released from 2020 to 2021 saw almost half—47 percent—of them marketed to be $150,000 or higher.
“The trend in prices for new drugs outpaces growth in prices for other health care services. Even after drugs are marketed, manufacturers routinely increase prices over time,” wrote the authors….