Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Aug;39(8):563-6.

Are specialty drug prices destroying insurers and hurting consumers?: a number of efforts are under way to reduce price pressure

Stephen Barlas

Are specialty drug prices destroying insurers and hurting consumers?: a number of efforts are under way to reduce price pressure

Stephen Barlas. P T. 2014 Aug.

Abstract

Organizations are trying to address the high cost of "specialty" medications that treat conditions such as cancer, hepatitis C, and multiple sclerosis. While comprising less than 1% of U.S. prescriptions, these drugs now account for 27% of pharmacy spending.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. The price of drugs for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a reflection of the unsustainable prices of cancer drugs: from the perspective of a large group of CML experts. Blood. 2013;121(22):4439–4442. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Starner CI, Bowen K, Yang Qiu Y, et al. Association of specialty drug prescription abandonment with increasing member out-of-pocket expense. Prime Therapeutics. 2014 Apr; Available at: http://tinyurl.com/StarnerEtAl. Accessed June 24, 2014.
    1. Anderson JL, Heidenreich PA, Barnett PG, et al. ACC/AHA statement on cost/value methodology in clinical practice guidelines and performance measures: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Performance Measures and Task Force on Practice Guidelines. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014;63(21):2304–2322. Available at: http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1853961. Accessed June 24, 2014. - PubMed
    1. Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing. National Coalition on Health Care. Available at: http://www.csrxp.org. Accessed June 24, 2014.
    1. Howard DH, Conti RM. Are new drugs more expensive than old ones? Trends in the benefit-adjusted launch prices of anticancer drugs, 1995–2013. Presentation at the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting; May 2014; Abstract published in J Clin Oncol 2014:32:5s (suppl; abstr 6525).

LinkOut - more resources