Drug Prices on the Rise: What Can Physicians Do?

Inflation-adjusted drug prices are up 60% in 10-years, amidst continued pharma profitability.

When I was a resident rotating in the ICU, a 25-year-old came in after a v-fib arrest in the setting of DKA. A known diabetic, he had been rationing his insulin due to the high price of the medication — taking half doses, skipping doses, sometimes going without for days at a time. We restored circulation, but the damage was done. He lived another 7 days.

This is not an unusual story. The price of drugs is a hot button issue for phsyicians, patients, politicians, and insurance companies. Everyone really, except perhaps the one industry that seems to think everything is fine.

Part of the problem in addressing the rise in prices is that we’ve had limited data. Most studies use list prices for drugs and, as physicians we all know the list price ain’t the price.

Enter this study, appearing in JAMA which uses an interesting technique to figure out what’s really going on.