Study highlights huge increase in retail prices of prescription drugs from

The average price rise is over 400%, the study revealed.

Prices on prescription drugs have been rising rapidly over the past six years, according to new research that took a look at the cost of dermatology products from a period starting in 2009. Two of the most significant price increases involved medications manufactured by Canadian drug firm Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., which is one of the companies recently facing controversy after they bought the rights to sell older drugs whose patents have expired only to immediately increase their price.

Researchers found that between 2009 and 2015, there was an average increase of 401 per cent in prices of all surveyed classes of brand-name drugs. According to physician Michael Carome, who heads watchdog group Public Citizen, inflation is not to blame for the price hikes, but rather the ability of companies to “jack up their prices” and hold patients hostage, making them pay premiums for the drugs they need. “We’re not talking about drugs that are listed as being in shortage”, said Dr. Steven P. Rosenberg, a researcher at the University of Miami, told the New York Times. Yesterday, the company announced that it will be reducing the prices for hospitals. The study author said about 20% U.S. patientsdid not fill at least one prescription due to cost past year.

There were 19 brand-name drugs included in all four surveys and selected for price trend analysis, conducted in August 2015.

Of the 72 drugs, researchers focused on 19 based on how frequently they were prescribed or if they had unusual price increases, grouping them into what they were used to treat: acne and rosacea, psoriasis, topical corticosteroids, antiinfectives, and antineoplastics.

Prescription dermatologic drug prices rose dramatically between 2009 and 2015, with antineoplastic drugs having the greatest increase, according to survey results from national chain pharmacies. The smallest mean absolute increase occurred in the prices of drugs in the anti-infective class.

Another startling find was that the retail prices of seven drugs more than quadrupled during the study period, with the vast majority of price increases occurring after 2011.

Psoriasis medications had the smallest mean percentage price increase (180%). A 30-gram tube of generic nystatin-triamcinolone rose from $9.15 in 2011 to $103.88 in 2014, a 10-fold price increase.

“We’re not talking about new drugs”.

What’s particularly disturbing is how most of the drugs in the study are “bread-and-butter” medications that a lot of patients use, according to Miranda Rosenberg.