Economics
Broken Market for Old Drugs Means Price Spikes Are Here to Stay
- Prices for 50 hospital drugs have risen 10-fold over 8 years
- Generic injection meds in short supply as producers drop out
Why Do Drug Prices Keep Going Up?
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With most products, you’d expect a flood of new supply to quickly drive back down a price spike caused by a temporary shortage. Not so in the topsy-turvy world of hospital pharmaceuticals.
Just look at prices for glycopyrrolate, an everyday drug used to dry up secretions prior to surgery. After one of only two makers of the drug temporarily closed its factory in 2012 to fix quality control problems, Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc raised prices on its injectable version more than 800 percent over the next year. Both manufacturers are now making the drug again, yet Hikma’s prices have only fallen slightly and remain more than eight times higher than they were in early 2013.