CMS has released their latest round of drug pricing data – another peek into the functionality of the prescription drug supply chain amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As we highlighted in the June and July NADAC reports, generic drug prices are weathering the pandemic storm. In fact, not only have the predictions of massive increases failed to come to fruition, but instead, generic drug prices are falling. This month continues that trend. Our latest report digs into the numbers using the latest NADAC drug pricing data from CMS.
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In our recent deep dive into the warped incentives in Medicare Part D that give rise to zombie brand drugs and excess costs for seniors and taxpayers, we noticed how helpful Medicare Plan Finder is in assisting seniors choose a health plan. However, we also found that it was less than helpful in assisting seniors minimize their out-of-pocket drug costs. Today’s Flash Finding highlights how Plan Finder makes it exceedingly difficult for anyone to know if they can save significant money on their prescription drugs.
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CMS has released their latest round of drug pricing data, giving us further insights into how the prescription drug supply chain is responding to the new challenges and demands presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. While many expected the pressures to cause massive shortages and price increases, the data shows that while shortages have definitely jumped, this new CMS drug pricing data shows that not only have generic drug prices stayed in check, but they actually appear to be deflating! But of course, the details matter, and we’ve got them for you.
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Mylan recently announced that its shareholders had approved its merger with Pfizer’s Upjohn, to form a new company called Viatris. One asset within Upjohn is Greenstone, a generic manufacturer that focuses on authorized generics. Given the news of the merger, we were interested to better understand the concentration risk on the U.S. generic marketplace by the marriage of Mylan and Greenstone. The good news is that we already have a tool that gives us an idea of who has what market share (using Medicaid data) for every drug. While not a complete assessment of our nation’s generic manufacturer market share, the Medicaid data provides a substantive snapshot of the overall market distribution for the production of each generic drug. Here’s what we found.
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CMS has released their latest round of drug pricing data – this one reflecting price changes from arguably the peak of COVID-19 hysteria and supply chain pressure. The release gives us long-anticipated insight into how the drug supply chain is operating as it is pushed up against the wall by unprecedented disruption. Surveys have shown that Americans believe that the pandemic will yield drug price increases from manufacturers, and given the growing number of shortages, who can blame them? Well, the CMS data shows that everyone may be in for a surprise: overall, generic drug prices don’t appear to be budging.
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Remember Daraprim? How about “pharma-bro”? Those were the good ole’ days when you could increase the price of a drug from $13.50 per pill (actually, it started under $1 when Turing acquired it) to $750 per pill and call yourself “Robin Hood.” We all know how this story ended. Martin Shkreli is now serving a seven-year prison term for securities fraud. His appeal to be released from prison to help research a COVID-19 cure was recently denied. The end? Not so fast! Generic Daraprim hit the market in March. meaning competition should bring “bad news” to the legacy brand manufacturer, right? Cheap prices for all, right? Wrong. In our latest Flash Finding, we started digging into the facts. Here’s what you need to know – in under 500 words.
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Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic pulled the rug out from under our lives, us nerds in the drug pricing world have been anxiously anticipating what its impact on the prescription drug supply chain will be. This week, CMS released its latest monthly round of prescription drug cost information, which gives us our first bits of insight of how the virus and its stresses on the supply chain are impacting generic drug costs. While it’s too early to tell, the first indicators show that prices are slightly moving northwards, but in general, it doesn’t seem close to being the disaster that many anticipated.
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