STAT Plus: Wholesale drug prices — and net prices — keep falling for most drugs
Amid continued political pressure on the pharmaceutical industry, a new analysis finds that brand-name drug makers increased their wholesale prices by 2.3% in the first quarter of this year, a much smaller boost than 3.2% hike that occurred during the same time a year ago.
Meanwhile, after subtracting allowances such as rebates and discounts, net prices paid by health plans fell by 2.6%, compared with a 3.7% decline in last year’s first quarter, according to Sector & Sovereign Research, which tracks the pharmaceutical industry. Looked at another way, the discounts off of wholesale prices reached 50.4%, which is the highest level in a decade. The figures were adjusted for inflation.
