4 March 2019 - The media has constructed a straw man of sorts when repeating the mantra of the "relentless rise of prescription drug prices." That growth has not been so relentless in recent years. 

This is due in large part to the increased pressure on net prices as a result of rebates. So while list prices exhibit an inexorable rise, net prices have stagnated during the last few years.

Last week, during a Senate hearing on prescription drug prices, chief executives from seven large pharmaceutical firms each offered arguments in defence of the ways in which they set prices, citing the fact that high rebates nullified for the most part the increases in list prices. The executives hammered home the point that net price increases have become stagnant due to the growing gross to net bubble.

Read Forbes article