STAT Plus: California reports pharma increased list prices way above inflation
For the first time since California began requiring drug makers to report and explain their price hikes, the state released data showing the three-year median increase in wholesale prices for more than 1,000 medicines was nearly 26%, suggesting a compounded annual increase of roughly 8% from 2017 through the first quarter of this year. The annual inflation rate was 2% during the same period.
The report marks a milestone, of sorts, in efforts to force the pharmaceutical industry to provide more insight into its pricing decisions. By passing so-called transparency laws, a growing number of states hope to pull back the curtain on the link between expenses and prices that drug companies have often used to justify rising or high prices.
