The prices of multiple sclerosis (MS) drugs continue to rise despite being available on the market for the past 10 to 15 years, a new study says.
Researchers from Oregon State University (OSU) and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) discovered that since its introduction in the 1990s, multiple sclerosis medicines have become more expensive instead of stabilizing similar to older drugs. The group calculated that the drugs now cost around $60,000 a year from the initial price of $10,000.
Multiple sclerosis is a disease that damages the protective covering of the nerves called myelin, disrupting the normal communication between the brain and the rest of the body.
"The pattern is a new drug comes on the market at a higher price than the existing drugs, and the response of the existing drugs is to raise their prices to close to the new drugs," Dr. Dennis Bourdette, the chair of neurology at OHSU, said.
Bourdette and his team extracted the costs from the number of patients suffering from MS and their insurers. In the United States, the researchers estimated that there are about 400,000 people diagnosed with MS, and more than two million people worldwide.
Associate Professor Daniel Hartung of the OSU-OHSU College of Pharmacy said that according to 'Economics 101' the introduction of new MS medicines should have lowered the prices because of competition, but this is not seen often in the pharmaceutical industry.
Holly Campbell, a spokeswoman for the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association, disputes the findings of the OSU-OHSU study. She claims that the research failed to consider the impact of rebates on the cost of the drugs or how the competitive biopharmaceutical market regulates the prices, while also promoting the development of new MS therapies.
Hartung contends that the study pointed out that the rebates the drug company made to Medicaid was only equivalent to 25 percent. While the estimates may be slightly off, he said that the trend remains the same.
He added that increase in the prices of older MS medicines "seemed to be coordinated" with the release of newer and more expensive drugs so that the two prices would meet.
The researchers also noted that escalating price of MS medicines affects insurers and government health care programs as well, diverting a significant amount of their funds to MS therapies from other health care needs.
In other countries, the single-payer system has caused the prices of drugs to lower, according to Hartung. Medicaid, however, is legally barred from negotiating on prices in the United States.
The Oregon State University and Oregon Health & Science University study is published in the journal Neurology.
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