Costly specialty/biotech drugs get ever more expensive in USA, AARP study finds

Since the US Medicare drug benefit took effect in 2006, drug manufacturers have substantially raised the prices of the expensive specialty drugs most widely used by Medicare beneficiaries, according to an AARP Rx Watchdog Report. Specialty drugs, mostly derived from biotechnology, are prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic illnesses such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis and are among the most expensive drugs on the market - at prices that range from $5,000 to more than $300,000 a year, notes the AARP, which represents America's retired people.

During the first two years of the Medicare Part D drug benefit (2006 and 2007), prices for the 144 specialty drugs most widely used by beneficiaries rose by 7.9% and 8.7%, respectively, says the report by the AARP's Public Policy Institute. In the two years before the benefit, those prices increased 5% and 6.8%, respectively.

On average in the four-year period from 2003 to 2007, drugmakers' prices for 112 popular Medicare specialty drugs increased by 42.9%, compared to the general inflation rate of 14.1%, the report says. For a patient taking a specialty drug for a chronic condition such as multiple sclerosis, the average cost of therapy rose almost $5,800 in the three-year period between 2004 and 2007.