Drug prices in the United States are nearly five times higher than in similar developed countries, according to a new study.
Researchers looked at 10 drugs just negotiated by U.S. government officials to reduce costs for older Americans with arthritis, psoriasis, leukemia, heart failure and diabetes.
With the exception of insulin, all drugs studied remained more expensive in the US than in the UK, Germany, Australia, Switzerland, Canada and France.
For example, the diabetes drug Jardiance, manufactured by Germany-based Boehringer Ingelheim, costs $197 per month in the US, 4.8 times the price in Australia.
These findings were released after the Biden administration’s anti-inflation law gave Medicare, the government’s health care program for seniors, the power to negotiate drug prices with drug companies. They officially launched their program earlier this year, using 10 different drugs analyzed in the new study.
Dr. Jared Ross, president of Emergency Medical Services, Education and Consulting, told DailyMail.com that the findings indicate it is a largely “symbolic” move.
Dr. Ross said: “I think everyone knew this wasn’t going to have a huge impact, but this is something that we’ve heard from both the politician side and the pharmaceutical company side that they’re trying to change this or the government side. It was to show what I was trying to show.” At least outwardly, it doesn’t give the impression that it’s changing it. ”
At least three of the 10 prescriptions studied are manufactured by American companies, but they are not as cheap for American consumers.
This includes Xarelto, which is manufactured by Johnson & Johnson to treat type 2 diabetes. Eliquis is manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer to treat atrial fibrillation. Enbrel is manufactured by Amgen to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
Vivek Ramaswami, a Republican politician who was recently selected by President-elect Donald Trump to co-direct the Department of Government Efficiency, recently blamed FDA bureaucracy for the problem of exorbitant drug prices in the United States. .
He said the organization was “erecting unnecessary barriers” and requiring further testing of medicines from other countries, “depriving patients of access to promising treatments” and driving up costs. .
Dr. Ross agreed that the time it takes to bring a drug to market can contribute to costs, but argued that the issue is more complex than that.
Other countries also have stricter patent regulations, price controls, and a greater willingness to negotiate drug prices. These factors keep drug prices low, he said.
Without such regulation in the United States, companies would be able to set drug prices without much oversight, and if there was only one treatment option on the market, consumers would have to pay the listed price. , said Dr. Ross.
Dr. Ross added: “What we don’t have is we don’t have a free market. [drug] The negotiations were an attempt at the emergence of a free market. ”
All of these things combine to make a big difference in healthcare in the United States compared to other countries.
Even after adjusting for inflation, the country’s prescription drug spending has steadily increased since the 1960s. Medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcies in this country.
Ramaswamy will join businessman Elon Musk in leading the Department of Government Efficiency under President-elect Trump.
Researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science led the study, but it also included contributors from schools in the United States.
Their results are American Medical Association Journal.
They collected data on U.S. drug prices from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and other countries using a database from a company called IQVIA that tracks data for the life sciences industry.
This study focused on the newly negotiated drug prices created by the Inflation Control Act.
The IRA added a provision requiring Medicare to cap the prices of common prescription drugs.
Once you set your cap, you can also negotiate the price of your drug based on comparisons with alternatives.
CMS officials started with 10 drugs and released their findings in August 2024.
These include Stelara, Enbrel, Entresto, Imbruvica, Eliquis, Xarelto, Jardiance, Januvia, Farxiga, and NovoLog/Fiasp.
The maximum price was reduced by up to 42% through renegotiation.
Stelara is an injectable drug that treats Crohn’s disease, psoriasis, and ulcerative colitis and costs about $4,695 per 30-day treatment in the United States.
In Australia, the cost is approximately 250% lower, equating to $1,341 for a 30-day treatment. It costs $1291 in the UK.
Enbrel, an injectable drug that treats rheumatoid arthritis, costs about $2,355 per 30-day treatment. By comparison, it costs around $754 in Australia and around $851 in the UK.
Jardianas, a hypoglycemic drug that treats type 2 diabetes, costs about $197 per 30-day treatment.
This is a 488 per cent increase compared to Australia, where the drug costs $33, and a 316 per cent increase compared to the UK, where the drug costs $50.93.
Jardiance works by lowering blood sugar levels, which can help manage some of the symptoms of type 2 diabetes. The new deal will cost about $197 a month in the U.S., compared to $50 a month in Germany and $67 a month in Canada.
The only drug priced at or below prices in other countries was Novolog/Fiasp, an insulin drug used to manage diabetes. A cap was placed on the drug’s price last year after widespread complaints of price gouging.
In the United States, a one-month supply of the drug costs $8.96, compared to $5.44 in Australia, $7.38 in the United Kingdom, and $11.09 in Germany.
Although the study authors noted that U.S. drug prices remain consistently high, they said that “the gap between U.S. and non-U.S. prices has narrowed for all drugs.”
Still, Frontier Psychiatry ZEO Dr. Eric Alzubi told DM.com that the changes made in the new CMS negotiations are not significant enough.
“While this study shows that drug prices in the United States are falling on average, they remain up to four times higher than drug prices in other developed countries,” he said. I don’t know if I can call that a victory. ”
He said that to lower drug prices in the United States, the government needs to be more aggressive in negotiating lower prices with companies for everything from pharmaceuticals to dialysis care.
“Unfortunately, for better or worse, we have a health care system and a medical philosophy in the United States where no treatment is too expensive,” Dr. Ross said.
Additionally, stricter enforcement of patent laws could encourage more drugs to enter the market, lowering the price of original formulations and making prescriptions more affordable overall.
Finally, while other countries have price controls, the U.S. largely lacks them, he said.
