A recent report from the AARP Public Policy Institute reveals that the prices of many top brand-name prescription drugs in the United States keep increasing over time, while the same medicines often become cheaper in other high-income countries. The report tracked 25 popular brand-name drugs that have been on the market for a long time and are commonly prescribed to Medicare patients. <\/p>\n
Between the time these drugs were first introduced and April 1, 2026, their average list price in the U.S. increased by 81%. In comparison, the same drugs saw an average price drop of 13% in 19 other high-income countries. The report suggests that this price gap happens because U.S. drug prices often start higher and keep rising after the medicine<\/a> is launched, while other countries have systems in place to lower<\/a> prices over time. <\/p>\n The 25 drugs studied together accounted for over $100 billion in Medicare prescription drug spending in 2024 and were used by nearly 15 million Medicare beneficiaries. The price increases in the U.S. varied widely, ranging from a 46% decrease to an 873% increase. Outside the U.S., 24 of the 25 drugs saw price drops, with an average decrease of 13%. <\/p>\n For example, Enbrel, a drug used to treat autoimmune<\/a> diseases and made by Amgen, saw its U.S. price rise by 873% since it was introduced, while its price dropped by 27% in other countries. Similarly, Jakafi, a blood cancer<\/a> treatment from Incyte, increased by 160% in the U.S. but decreased by 9% abroad. Merck\u2019s diabetes<\/a> drug Januvia rose by 126% in the U.S. but dropped by 40% in other countries. <\/p>\n The only drug in the study with a lower current U.S. price than at launch was Amgen\u2019s cholesterol drug Repatha, which is now 46% cheaper. However, its price has since risen by 30% from that reduced level due to market factors. <\/p>\n The report also highlights the impact of Medicare price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act. Between 2024 and 2026, six of the 25 drugs saw one-time U.S. list price reductions averaging 40%. All six drugs had their prices negotiated by Medicare. The reductions for these drugs ranged from 18% to 50%. However, these cuts were not seen in other drugs with negotiated prices, meaning not all patients will benefit from the savings. <\/p>\n Leigh Purvis, a prescription drug policy expert at AARP and the report\u2019s author, explained that generic drug prices in the U.S. are actually lower than in many other countries due to a more competitive market. She added that there is more work to be done to ensure savings from Medicare negotiations reach all patients and payers. <\/p>\n The findings come as the Trump administration promotes \u2018most favored nation\u2019 drug pricing, where U.S. launch prices would be tied to prices in other high-income countries. The White House claims these agreements with 17 major drugmakers could save $529 billion over the next decade. The AARP report suggests that incorporating international price comparisons into Medicare negotiations could lead to even greater savings. Other potential reforms mentioned include negotiating drug prices sooner after approval and expanding the number of drugs eligible for negotiation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A recent report from the AARP Public Policy Institute reveals that the prices of many top brand-name prescription drugs in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pharmaceutical-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}