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The wholesale prices for well known brand-name prescription drugs soared an average 7.1% in 2004 compared to a 0.5% average increase for popular generic brand prescription drugs according to a new study commissioned by AARP. The brand-name prescription drugs price increase was more than twice the general inflation rat and was the largest increase in the last 5 years that AARP has commissioned the study.
While the report studied the wholesale and not retail prices of prescription drugs, the findings point to higher prices for consumers. According to the authors of the study, these increases are routinely passed on to consumers in retail prices.
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The study looked at 195 brand-name prescription drugs widely used by people 50 and older and what manufacturers charged for them. It was conducted by the AARP Public Policy Institute and the PRIME Institute, an independent research organization at the University of Minnesota's College of Pharmacy.
With a general inflation rate of 2.7% (Consumer Price Index) the wholesale prices of the brand-name prescription drugs rose 2.5 times inflation. When 153 brand-name prescription drugs that have been included in all the reports since 1999 were studied, they rose 35.1% compared to an inflation rate of 13.5% during the same period.
While the report studied the wholesale and not retail prices of prescription drugs, the findings point to higher prices for consumers. According to the authors of the study, these increases are routinely passed on to consumers in retail prices.
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The study looked at 195 brand-name prescription drugs widely used by people 50 and older and what manufacturers charged for them. It was conducted by the AARP Public Policy Institute and the PRIME Institute, an independent research organization at the University of Minnesota's College of Pharmacy.
With a general inflation rate of 2.7% (Consumer Price Index) the wholesale prices of the brand-name prescription drugs rose 2.5 times inflation. When 153 brand-name prescription drugs that have been included in all the reports since 1999 were studied, they rose 35.1% compared to an inflation rate of 13.5% during the same period.
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