Recent media coverage on high drug prices continues to obscure the primary role drug manufacturers play in the high cost of prescription medications.
Here are the facts:
- In the first two weeks of 2024, drug manufacturers 鈥渞aised list prices on 775 brand-name drugs 鈥� by a median of 4.5 percent,鈥� outpacing 鈥渢he rate of inflation, which ticked up to 3.4 percent in December,鈥� according to from The Wall Street Journal and 46brooklyn Research.
- has found that the median annual price among new drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2023 reached $300,000, 35% higher than the previous year.
- Over the 2009鈥�2018 period, the average price of a prescription for a brand-name drug more than in the Medicare Part D program and increased by 50% in Medicaid.
- More than 22 cents of every dollar spent on health insurance premiums goes to pay for prescription drugs 鈥� more than any other individual category.
- A recent found that 鈥渁nti-competitive patent abuse tactics used by big pharmaceutical companies cost U.S. consumers an additional $40.7 billion in prescription drug expenses in one year alone.鈥�
- found that pharmaceutical companies filed more than 140 patent applications on average per drug.
- A recent found the top 10 brand name drugs in terms of 鈥淯S net sales revenue in 2021鈥� had a total of 1,429 patents or pending patents.
- Nearly of voters name pharmaceutical companies as most responsible for rising prescription drug prices.
- The largest drugmakers in the United States out of every dollar on research & development, and a from JAMA Network found 鈥渘o relationship鈥� between the price brand name drug makers set and the amount those companies invest in R&D.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers control their drug prices, and they alone can lower them for Americans today. Instead, they continue to raise prices year after year鈥攅ven several times a year鈥攎aking health care more expensive for everyone.
Health insurance plans remain committed to keeping prescription drugs as affordable as possible by incentivizing the use of lower-cost, clinically equivalent generics and passing the value of negotiated discounts to patients through lower premiums and drug costs, and saving millions of dollars for patients every day.