US Drug Prices "Twice As High" As Elsewhere

Three disturbing facts are becoming increasingly clear regarding US drugs and their prices, said Peter Arno, associate professor at the Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, delivering testimony before the US Senate Committee on Government Affairs at the end of July.

These are, he pointed out: - the average price of drugs in the USA is far higher than the same drugs in other industrialized countries; - the rate of drug price inflation in the USA continues to exceed inflation in the general economy; and - half of all expenditures on prescription drugs are still paid for out-of-pocket.

As things stand currently, Prof Arno said, "pharmaceutical practices and gaps in insurance coverage for needed therapies are a grave disservice to the citizens of this country in their capacities as both health consumers and taxpayers."