Brand Name Drug Prices Increase 130 Times Faster Than Inflation

Gird you pocketbooks, Floridians. Prices for the brand name drugs you use most are sharply escalating and show no signs of stopping.

According to the new AARP Rx Price Watch Report, the cost of the nation’s most widely used prescription medication rose by an average of 15.5 percent in 2015 – nearly 130 times faster than the .1 percent general inflation rate. The average annual cost for one brand name drug used on a chronic basis now exceeds $5,800, the report concludes.

For the average older American taking 4.5 prescription drugs per month, this translates into an average annual cost of therapy of $26,000. This amount exceeds the median income of $24,150 for Medicare beneficiaries.

The six medications with the highest cumulative price increase from 2006-15 are:

1) Ativan 1 mg – 2,873% increase
2) Carac .5% - 2,395% increase
3) Ativan 2 mg – 2,080% increase
4) Wellbutrin XL 300 g – 1,185% increase
5) Zovirax 5% - 783% increase
6) Humulin U500 – 583% increase

Other study findings:

• The average annual retail price increase for widely used brand name prescription drugs was more than two and a half times higher in 2015 (15.5%) than in 2006 (5.9%).
• In 2015, the average annual retail cost of one brand name medication used to treat a chronic health condition more than $5,800, compared with nearly $1,800 in 2006.
• Retail prices increased for 97% of the 268 brand name prescription drugs in the study’s market basket.
• Seven widely used brand name drugs had average annual retail price increases of over 50% in 2015. Those medications are:
  • Zegrid 100 mg
  • Glumetza ER 1,000 mg
  • Ativan 1 mg
  • Wellbutrin 300mg
  • Nitrostat .4
  • Ativan 2mg
  • Azopt Ophth 1

Read the full report here.