Drug shortages may add $230 million to annual U.S. drug costs

Reuters

22 September 2018 - Prescription drug shortages may drive up prices twice as much as they would rise with medicines in abundant supply, adding $230 million a year to U.S. drug costs, a new study estimates.

Researchers examined data on 90 medications involved in shortages between December 2015 and December 2016. They compared average wholesale drug prices for 11 months before and after shortages began, and they also looked at a decade of historical price increases.

Over the 11 months preceding shortages, prices for the drugs rose an average of 7.3%, researchers report in the Annals of Internal Medicine. In the 11 months afterward, prices surged 16% on average.

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Michael Wonder

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Michael Wonder

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Medicine , US , Cost analysis , Supply