点击显示 收起
Sept. 19, 2006 -- Wholesale prices for popular brand-name drugs rose 6.3% between June 2005 and June 2006, a study released by the seniors' group AARP concluded Tuesday.
That's nearly double the rate of general inflation.
The increase translates to an average of $283 dollars in additional drug costs for Americans over 50, who on average take four prescription medications. Most of the prescriptions are for chronic, ongoing conditions, the report says.
The study looks at wholesale prices that drug makers charge distributors, not retail prices paid at the pharmacy. But AARP, the nation's largest and most powerful senior citizens' lobbying group, warned that such price increases are passed along to consumers, many of whom lack insurance.
"We can't imagine a system in which wholesalers are eating these cost increases," Dalmer Hoskins, managing director of the AARP Public Policy Institute, told reporters.
Prices Outpace Inflation
The study looks at 193 of the most commonly used drugs by Americans over 50. Prices for more than 70 of the drugs went up 3% to 5% between June 2005 and June 2006. Fifty-eight drugs rose 5.1% to 7.5%, while three rose 10% or more.
At the same time, manufacturers' prices for generic drugs rose 0.4%, a fraction of the 3.8% inflation rate, the report showed.
The study marks the seventh straight year the organization has recorded wholesale prices outpacing inflation.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) was sharply critical of the AARP study. Ken Johnson -- PhRMA's senior vice president -- says in a news release that "AARP's allegations about pharmaceutical inflation are inaccurate."
According to Johnson, "The allegation about drug inflation ... is soundly contradicted by studies that show that prescription medicine spending increases are at their lowest level in a decade."