Generic Drugs : The Rising Cost

In 2015, the pharmaceutical industry spent over 27 billion dollars on advertising. The two greatest components of this effort were promotional advertising and free medication sampling, which the pharmaceuticals invested 15.5 and 5.7 billion dollars respectively (“Persuading the Prescribers”). Promotional advertising involves direct contact with health professionals, the most common being extravagant lunch conferences held for physicians and their staff. On the other hand, sampling involves distributing free sample of medications to physicians, who then have a choice of providing these samples to patients. As a result of these methods, the industry has seen revenue around $400 billion with 90% of physicians having a relationship with a drug company (Campbell 2007). Moreover, the prices of prescriptions continue to rise; a copay of a generic drug is $11.72, preferred brand drug is $36.37 and a specialty drug is $58.37 (Coleman and Geneson 2014). Although the profits are immense in the numbers demonstrated above, it is no surprise when pharmaceutical drug companies elevate their prices even more. For instance, recently Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of their medication Daraprim from $13.50 to $750. Keep in mind, this medication is used for threatening parasitic infections, aids, and cancer with alternative options currently found to be inefficient (Pollack 2015). Another example of this practice involves cycloserine, a drug used to

Pharmaceuticals in the United States have been on the rise for years and everyone is trying to find was to get cheaper medication. New generics, 4 dollar lists, and coupons have been a growing force in pharmacies in the past few years. Some might think, “There has to be laws against rising prices, right?” Well, sort of.

Anyone who has purchased prescription medications has probably wondered why they cost so much, and rightfully so. Medication prices in the United States have been on a steady increase for decades, however, prices have been drastically increasing as of recent. Pharmaceutical companies have tried to justify these price increases due to the demand, the high cost of research, and the high costs of development and approval. Notwithstanding, the extent to which the prices have increased is not justifiable. Americans should be against these high medication prices and take action because pharmaceutical companies are taking advantage of our health care system in order to capitalize from the sick. In order shed some light on this issue, we must examine the magnitude, scope, and consequences of these rises in price.

U. S. citizens pay the highest prescription drug prices in the world. This is an injustice that must be corrected. The "U.S. forbids the import of prescription drugs by anyone other than the original U.S. manufacturer, and even then only when the drugs meet all the approval requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)" (Barlett & Steele, 2004). Prescription drug prices are outrageously high in the United States because of the influence of advertising on consumer purchasing, the misleading statements by pharmaceutical companies about the cost of research and development of new drugs, the manipulation of patent laws, the antiquated laws regarding importation of

If congress would focus on making generic drugs available the cost of prescriptions would not be as high, and Americans could save approximately $35 billion during the next decade. Compared to $72 a month for brand name drugs, generic versions average $17 a month or 25 to 89 percent lower. Under current legislation original manufacturers of a drug may file multiple lawsuits to prevent other companies from producing a generic version of their drug after the patent runs out. Each lawsuit that is filed delays the production of the generic version by 30 months. If the new bill is passed only one lawsuit will be allowed which would speed the production of generic drugs. The proposed law would also decrease the time it

In 2014, prescription drug costs made up 9.8% of total annual health care expenditures; retail prescription drug spending accounted for $297.7 billion (Hemphill, 2017). The need for prescription medication will continue to increase as the population ages. Chronic disease is also on the rise, and the pharmaceutical industry is under pressure to innovate. Healthcare cost are out of control, and medication seems to be the only solution to try and contain the costs. Doctors no longer focus on teaching patients how to care for themselves naturally. There are many herbs and supplements that can take the place of a prescription, but doctors write prescriptions for their own personal gain.

The rise in costs of prescription medicines affects all sectors of the health care industry, including private insurers, public programs, and patients. Spending on prescription drugs continues to be an important health care concern, particularly in light of rising pharmaceutical costs, the aging population, and increased use of costly specialty drugs. In recent history, increases in prescription drug costs have outpaced other categories of health care spending, rising rapidly throughout the latter half of the 1990s and early 2000s. (Kaiseredu.org, 2012).

In a recent study the prescriber was offered education and an financial incentive. “López-Picazo Ferrer et al.32 carried out educational and financial incentive intervention. This study indicated an absolute increase of 14.8%. in generic prescriptions after intervention (from 2.79% to 17.63%), with a reported average impact.” (Guttier, 2017, p. 13) Trust has been gained within generic drugs over time as users see the same effects with the generic drug that is cheaper. Lack of education on generic drugs make pharmacist and doctors second guess a generic drug. Users have a lack of knowledge until the try the generic drugs. Convenience can also be explored when using a generic drug. Evidence quality of generic drug companies is constantly on the rise due to the success level they are having. Generic drug companies are getting a return result ,positively supporting the cause of generic drugs. United States generic drug companies are comparing generic drug prescription compared to what it has been statistical in the past years. Prescriber’s opinion on generic drugs are changing over time. Generic drug companies are helping prescriber’s make the decision to prescribe a generic drug by educating them. Generic drug companies are providing free vouchers to allow physicians and pharmacist to help patients make medical decisions. Brand name drug companies

This article is of importance because not only does the former commissioner state the reasons medications are so expensive he proposes solutions to the problem. In his conclusion, McClellan admits the FDA “can and should do a much better job of making safe and innovative drugs more affordable.”(McClellan 2009) That is a large first step to solving the problem that so many Americans

Katie Thomas wrote an article for ProQuest on the raised prices and she references what many companies claim, “But drug companies say the prices reflect the enormous investment of time and resources that go into bringing a drug to market and argue that many times, their drugs can prevent more expensive medical interventions like surgery and hospitalization.” This proves that simply requiring companies to lower prices is not really possible as the costs have to pay for multiple aspects in the drug’s company. This also leads into a point made by Harris Meyer in an article for Modern Healthcare where he says, “the idea that lower prices will reduce the financial incentives for developing new breakthrough products.” A lot of the income from these drugs goes into the research and production of new and more effective products. Another reason for companies to raise the prices is when companies are stuck with producing hard to manufacture drugs as also stated by Meyer, “But rising prices for generics have been triggered by a variety of factors, including a shortage of producers for harder-to-manufacture injectables.” This is a direct explanation of the EpiPen price hike. Evidently, there is a lot that goes behind the pricing of these drug by pharmaceutical

Drug cost is very high even if the patient chooses to a generic version of the medication. Although there are similar drugs available to treat the same ailment one would think it would keep the cost low to minimize the competition that has no bearing on pricing medicine. According to Kesselheim, Avorn, & Sarpatwari, (2016), between 2013 and 2015, the cost of prescription drugs in the United States increased approximately 20% exceeding the forecasted amount of 11%. The cost of prescription drugs is undeniably one of the key components that adds to the cost of healthcare. Biologic drugs such as Humira can cost the insurance companies thousands of dollars and still leave the patient to contribute a high portion of the cost. Individuals who

As a nurse leader, what I could do now is suggest for our transplant program to prescribe generic medications. This is a commitment to STEEEP™ care. When the patient is first transplanted at the BSWH-AS, he/she is started on the hospital formulary, which is generic. The patient is discharged on medications ordered from Courtyard Pharmacy which uses the same distributer and manufacturer. Most commercial insurance companies charge a higher co-pay for brand. Medicare prefers generic medications. With the co-pays being so high and insurance companies being so restrictive, the prescriber is forced to go with generic.

After the generic is down for use, the pharmacy that used to buy a brand and pays four hundred dollars for just a hundred pills, now pays from one to ten dollars for a hundred pills which makes the expenses of the pharmacy decrease. (Belk David MD)

There is a clear consensus that generic savings are now a large and important source of health care savings.12 Generic drugs can reduce healthcare costs through multiple pathways including generic substitution of drugs, substitution of drugs in the same therapeutic class, and reduction in the average branded prices paid by consumers due to generic substitution.12 Generic substitution is a common practice, and pharmacists pay an essential role in promoting generic medicines.7 Setting mechanisms to increase substitution of generic drugs for branded drugs that are not therapeutically equivalent, but have the same indication, has a great potential for increasing cost savings.12 However, generic regulations differ from one state to another in many

Cheap Pharma Inc., a pharmaceutical company specializing in generic drugs, had been suffering low sales in the past months because of fierce competition from other generic drug brands.