Of the 10 drugs with the biggest price hikes in 2021, seven lacked new clinical evidence to sponsor their growing price tags, according to the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review's annual report.
Altogether, these price jumps resulted in $805 million in additional costs, the ICER said in a Dec. 6 news release.
Here are the seven therapies listed in order of their net price increases on U.S. drug spending:
|
Drug |
Net price increase |
Increase in drug spending after net price change |
Drugmaker of brand name |
|
Xifaxan (rifaximin) |
12.14 percent |
$174.7 million |
Salix Pharmaceuticals |
|
Invega Sustenna/Trinza (paliperidone) |
7.32 percent |
$170.4 million |
Janssen Pharmaceuticals |
|
Prolia (denosumab) |
6.11 percent |
$123.8 million |
Amgen |
|
Entyvio (vedolizumab) |
4.5 percent |
$118 million |
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. |
|
Promacta (eltrombopag) |
11.46 percent |
$94.9 million |
Novartis |
|
Rexulti (brexpiprazole) |
7.61 percent |
$67.9 million |
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. and Lundbeck |
|
Lupron (leuprolide) |
10 percent |
$54.9 million |
AbbVie |
Compared to the ICER's last three reports, this is the fourth annual year that seven of the biggest price increases for drugs weren't supported by new clinical data. Since 2017, though, 2021 was the first year in which the effect on U.S. drug spending was less than $1 billion.
Three drugs covered by Medicare Part B were also bereft of clinical benefit-spurred price bumps, the ICER found:
|
Drug |
2019-20 list price increase |
Average per-patient increase in spending |
Drugmaker of brand-name |
|
Somatuline Depot (lanreotide) |
11.2 percent |
$1,210 |
Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals |
|
Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) |
9.23 percent |
$1,640 |
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and Seagen |
|
Krystexxa (pegloticase) |
11.78 percent |
$3,210 |
Horizon Therapeutics |