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Some Drug Prices Surging 100 Percent Or More

Congress wants investigation into skyrocketing prescription costs

August 11, 2008

• Proposed Settlement Could Lower Prescription Drug Prices • FDA: Baltimore Pharmacies Selling Expired and Counterfeit Drugs • Some Drug Prices Surging 100 Percent Or More • Kmart, Schnucks Expand Generic Rx Discounts • Coming Soon: Generic Drugs from China • Safeway Introduces Generic Drug Discounts • Medicaid Cuts 'Devastating,' Pharmacies Warn • Kroger Expands Its Generic Drug Discount Program • Supermarkets Launch Generic Drug Discount Programs • Drug Prices Can Vary Widely, Survey Finds • Wal-Mart Adds More Generic Drugs To Discount Plan • FDA Finds Problems with Online Drugs • Wal-Mart Expands $4 Generic Program • Walgreens.com's Pharmacy Gets Top Rating • Popular Blood Pressure Drug Goes Generic • Wal-Mart Expands Generic Drug Plan • Consumers Get Little Drug Price Information From Their Doctors • Florida Pharmacy Offers Generics Online for $3.79 • Wal-Mart Adds 12 More States To $4 Drug Program • Wal-Mart Expands $4 Generic Drug Program To 14 More States • Report: Shopping Around Beats Medicare Drug Prices • Drugs by Mail: Money Saver or Rx for Disaster? • Wal-Mart Expands Its Generic Drug Discounts • Feds Give Up on Canadian Drug Crackdown • Target Matches Wal-Mart's $4 Generic Rx Price • Congress OKs Drug Shopping Trips To Canada • Seniors Bemoan "Donut Day" • Wal-Mart Cuts Generic Rx Prices To $4 In Florida • AARP: Drug Prices Still Rising • Illinois Sues 48 Drug Companies • Pharmacy Benefit Managers Scrutinized • Survey Shows Value of Comparison Shopping --- • Medicare News

While consumers have been focused on the rising cost of gasoline, another cost has been going up even faster -- the price of some prescription medicine.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota report some drug companies have raised prices by 100 percent or more, and as a result are driving up the costs of many health insurance premiums and government programs.

For example, researchers say Questcor Pharmaceuticals has increase the price of Acthar from about $1,650 per vial to more than $23,000. The drug is used to treat spasms in infants.

Ovation Pharmaceuticals raised the price of its drug, Cosmegen, from $16.79 to $593.75. Cosmegen is used to treat certain types of tumors.

According to the study, the average wholesale price of 26 drugs increased more than 100 percent last year. Health care officials say hospitals either have to eat the costs, or pass them on to health insurers and patients.

Many of the drugs are older drugs, which may explain their costs. The drug companies told researchers that it was costly to keep the drugs on the market, especially when there is declining demand.

So far, that explanation hasn't gone over well in Congress. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) has asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to look into the huge price hikes. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has petitioned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to look into Ovation and its recent significant hikes in drug prices.

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