• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Drug Delivery Business

  • Clinical Trials
  • Research & Development
  • Drug-Device Combinations
  • FDA
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Policy

CMS pinpoints cost-driving drugs in newly released data

December 9, 2016 By Sarah Faulkner

CMS pinpoints cost-driving drugs in newly released dataCenters for Medicare & Medicaid Services released 5 years of pricing data for a list of more than 5,000 drugs this week. The data illustrate that a handful of cost-driving drugs experienced price hikes in 2015, which cost taxpayers millions in added Medicare spending.

The price of some drugs went up almost 500%, with name-brand drugs experiencing the largest price spikes. According to the data, medications used to treat conditions such as hepatitis C, diabetes and high blood pressure cost taxpayers more than $14 billion last year. In response to the agency releasing the data, CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavvit tweeted, “When taxpayers pay, prices should be public.”

Within drugs that patients administer themselves, a high blood pressure medication called Cozaar had the largest price increase, jumping 491% to $3.22 per unit. A hepatitis C medication, Harvoni, had the highest total spending at $7 billion. Sanofi‘s (NYSE:SNY) Lantus insulin injection ranked 2nd at $4.3 billion. The highest average cost per unit medication was Eyelea, which is indicated for age-related macular degeneration, at $35,457 per unit.

For Medicare Part B, which includes medications administered by doctors, a chemotherapy drug called mitomycin had the largest price jump, increasing 163% to $58.07 per unit with total spending above $15 million.  Medicare spent $1.9 billion on Aflibercept, an injection for age-related macular degeneration. The highest average cost per unit drug was sipuleucel-t, an immunotherapy for prostate cancer. The therapy costs $35,205 per unit.

The pharmaceutical industry’s pricing problems were highlighted last year, after Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of its malaria drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 a pill. This year, Mylan (NSDQ:MYL) has faced criticism after reports revealed that the company raised the price of its emergency allergy device by 500% since it acquired the product from Merck in 2007.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid reported in November that Mylan underpaid CMS for its auto-injector by misclassifying the device as a generic. Mylan agreed to pay $465 million to settle the claims, but the federal government has not acknowledged the deal. In the settlement, Mylan said it will reclassifying the EpiPen as a branded drug in April 2017, which means the company will pay 23% in rebates instead of 13%.

This week, pharma and biotech shares dropped after Time published an interview with Donald Trump where he promised to “bring down drug prices”.

Filed Under: Featured, Pharmaceuticals, Policy, Wall Street Beat Tagged With: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Mylan, Sanofi-Aventis

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

  • Rapid Dose closes first tranche of $5M financing
  • Senseonics stock is up as it sticks by revenue guidance
  • MedAlliance wins second FDA IDE nod for drug-coated balloon
  • Wells Fargo downgrades Tandem amid rise of automated insulin delivery competition
  • FDA approves first targeted infusion therapy for HER2-low breast cancer

Primary Sidebar

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
Need Drug Delivery Business News in a minute? We Deliver!
Drug Delivery Enewsletters get you caught up on all the mission critical news you need in med tech. Sign up today.

Signup for the newsletter

Footer

Drug Delivery Business News Logo

MassDevice Medical NETWORK

MassDevice
DeviceTalks
Medical Tubing & Extrusion
Medical Design & Outsourcing
MedTech100 Index
Drug Discovery & Development
Pharmaceutical Processing World
Medical Design Sourcing
R&D World

DRUG DELIVERY BUSINESS NEWS

Subscribe to Drug Delivery’s E-Newsletter
Advertise with us
About
Contact us
Privacy
Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
Add us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterConnect with us on LinkedIn

Copyright © 2022 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Advertise | Privacy Policy | RSS