Report: Drug Prices for Older Adults Are Soaring

The AARP report (PDF) announced Thursday discovered that the overall average retail price of 280 generic drugs widely used by adults aged 50 years and older in 2013 has dropped by 4%. This is the smallest annual decrease in the eight years evaluated in this analysis. The annual average price of medicines in 2013 is $ 283, which is the same as the previous year, the lowest retail price since 2005. Approximately three quarters of the 280 drugs reviewed in the report show declines in annual retail prices and the prices of the 10 drugs dropped from 30% to 75%. However, these declines were not enough to offset the price increases of 75 drugs in 2013, of which 11 drugs increased more than 30%, the costs of both drugs increased by more than 1000%.

After reporting significant price increases for some generic drugs, Maryland prohibited "price fraud" as an unreasonable increase in the price of "required generic drugs or generic drugs". Pharmaceutical companies that oppose the law may be fined 10,000 dollars and asked to return it to consumers.

Inflation of Existing Drugs In 2000, the price of existing drugs rose by 3.9%, and the overall inflation rate was 3.4%. This indicates that the price of the old medicine is generally not excessive. It seems to be excessive in drugs that raise repetitive prices, especially just prior to patent protection and the loss of monopoly profits. For example, in the five years before the antihistamine Claritin patent expired, Schering-Plow raised its price by a factor of 13, rising 28% overall and exceeding the five-year inflation rate more than twice. In the measurable industry (see Figure 8), the pharmaceutical industry is keenly interested in improving drug use, developing new drugs, and raising existing drugs. The pharmaceutical industry believes that by reducing the cost of prescription drugs, important research funds are reduced and costs are reduced