United States: As the prices of the pharmaceutical drugs has increased to an extent where the common people or the people with the color really having hard time buying the medicines new report finds.
The advocacy organization Patients for the Affordable drugs released a report this month which shows that the pharmaceutical companies make a upward shift in the prices on at least 1,000 prescription drugs so far this year with about half of the price increases being about the rate of inflation.
Also a study says that one in the 3 Americans cannot afford their prescription drugs the report states and these high drugs prices particularly affect the Black and the Latino patients aged almost 65 and over who can be twice as likely to report the hard time in affording the medication according to the new report.
As reported by NBC News, some of the drugs that have been hiked in price include Enhertu that is used to treat HER2 negative breast cancer, a less aggressive form of cancer that is prevalent amongst Black women according to new England Journal of Medicine.
The drug maker, Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca, has hiked the price of the drug eight times after its launch in 2019 and most recently by 3.49% in this current July to USD 2,800 per month. Other drugs more used in the treatment of multiple myeloma including Revlimid also increased by 7% to more than USD 89000 per month out of pocket.
This is especially true, the report notes, where the condition afflicts black people in the United States and they are more likely to receive a diagnoses and die from the disease.
The wholesale acquisition cost for Enhertu does not necessarily the price the consumer, the payer or the dispenser generally pay, the companies said to NBC News. Another source from Revlimid’s manufacturer, Bristol Myers Squibb said the increase in the price of the drug was as an outcome of clinical benefits to the patients as well as other economic factors.
The company also said that most patients will never pay the sticker price for the medication and that the firm has various ‘programs to assist the commercially insured patients with out of pocket expenses.’
Drug prices get hiked twice a year, and there is no cap that the US can apply, according to Merith Basey, executive director of Patients for Affordable Drugs. Referring to the number as an affordability crunch which indexed nearly every American, she said it negatively impacted people of color specifically.
“Black and Latino families are more likely to experience chronic diseases and specific cancer types – diseases that do call for long term and very costly medication,” he explained. “Much of that is also related to racial disparities in healthcare which have been evidence based because of racism.”