This Just In: Kids Go Wild for Harry Potter and Increases in Drug Costs Outpace Inflation

By bmartin on March 26, 2008 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

From the gray panthers of the AARP by way of Bloomberg by way of PharmaGossip: Nothing new—just drug companies continue to make up for slowing prescriptions and less-than-promosing pipelines by jacking up the costs of their existing meds.

According to the AARP's latest "Rx Watchdog Report," increases in manufacturers' prices of 23 of the top 25 brand-name prescription products during 2007 outpaced the rate of inflation (2.9%) by as much as 25%. Pfizer appears to be one of the biggest offenders with 5.0% increases in the cost of its Lipitor (atorvastatin) products, an 8.7% increase in the cost of Celebrex (celecoxib) 200 mg, and 11.5% increases in the cost of Norvasc (amlodipine) tablets. However, the annual change in the cost of sanofi-aventis's Ambien (zolpidem tartrate), at 27.7%, outpaced that of Norvasc by more than more than 15 percentage points.

Sales Rank	Product	Manufacturer	Change in WAC, %
21	Zocor 20 mg	Merck	0.0
24	Zocor 40 mg	Merck	0.0
2	Plavix 75 mg	BMS	0.5
3	Prevacid 30 mg DR	TAP	5.0
5	Lipitor 20 mg	Pfizer	5.0
6	Lipitor 10 mg	Pfizer	5.0
11	Lipitor 40 mg	Pfizer	5.0
4	Protonix 40 mg	Wyeth	5.2
1	Nexium 40 mg	AZ	5.3
16	Singulair 10 mg	Merck	5.8
15	Namenda 10 mg	Forest	5.9
8	Fosamax 70 mg	Merck	6.2
18	Zetia 10 mg	Merck/SP	6.5
19	Lexapro 10 mg	Forest	6.9
7	Aricept 10 mg	Eisai	7.0
25	Avandia 4 mg	GSK	7.5
12	Actonel 35 mg	P&G	8.1
14	Celebrex 200 mg	Pfizer	8.7
10	Advair Diskus 250-50	GSK	8.8
23	Seroquel 200 mg	AZ	9.1
20	Lantus 100/mL	sanofi-aventis	9.4
17	Flomax 0.4 mg	BI	11.2
9	Norvasc 10 mg	Pfizer	11.5
13	Norvasc 5 mg	Pfizer	11.5
22	Ambien 10 mg	sanofi-aventis	27.7

In fact, the cumulative percentage increase in the cost of Ambien, from 2002 to 2007, was nearly 160%. Less dramatic, but still impressive, cost increases during this time period were those for GSK's Advair Diskus (53.0%), Merck's Fosfamax (39.9%), Eisai's Aricept (37.1%), AstraZeneca's Nexium (33.0%), and Pfizer's Lipitor (32.2%).

P.S. Dumbledore is dead...and may have been gay.

WAC = wholesale acquisition cost.