The Journal of the American Medical Association evaluated top-selling drugs finding that over a six year period, 78 percent of the drugs have seen an increase in costs by more than 50 percent, and 44 percent have more than doubled in price.
The economic evaluation of drug prices focused on 49 top-selling brand-name medications in the United States, over a 6-year period from 2012 through 2107. Substantial cost increases among these drugs was near universal, with a 7 percent median cost increase from January 2012 through December 2017, and almost all drugs displaying regular annual or biannual price increases.
Insulins (ie, Novolog, Humalog, and Lantus) and tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (ie, Humira and Enbrel) demonstrated some of the largest growth in drug costs.
The report findings suggest the costs for popular brand-name drugs will double every 7 to 8 years.
Access the JAMA study.