The CBS Evening News (11/12, story 3, 2:25, Pelley) reported that an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine has exposed “some spectacular jumps in generic drug prices.” As an example, the study evaluated doxycycline, an antibiotic, which “went from six cents a pill to $3.36 cents, an increase of more than 5,000 percent.” Additionally, the price for captopril, “used for hypertension, increased 2,800 percent.”

        On its website, CBS News (11/13, LaPook) reports that the study “points to the impact of less competition in the generic drug industry” as a major driver behind the price increases. Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, one of the authors of the study, says “everybody just assumes generic prices are low, but generic prices are low because there’s competition,” and “once that competition goes away, you no longer have low prices and you have very expensive generic drugs.”

        HealthDay (11/13, Thompson) reports that in response to this increase, “both the US Senate and the US Department of Justice have undertaken investigations into generic drug pricing.” Despite this, “Kesselheim noted that the federal response to these increases in generic prices has been limited so far,” and he “believes that there is an opportunity for action by the FDA.” He says the agency “can alert the public and physicians and other companies to the fact this is going on, and it can accelerate approvals of competing products that may otherwise be in the back of their drug development queue.”

Blogfinger Medical Commentary:  By Paul Goldfinger, MD, FACC

Last month we posted an article about rising prices for generic drugs.   (BF on generic drug prices  )  Patients had been feeling good that many of their medications were now available as inexpensive generics, but now that all seems too good to be true.

Today we have a follow up on the issue from the American Medical Association quoting an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.  We had mentioned that Congress was launching an investigation, but now, in addition, we learn that the Justice Department is also looking into the matter.

The makers of generic drugs will have to testify as why some drug prices have gone us by huge amounts. Captopril is an old antihypertensive generic agent  (Rx for high blood pressure). The price has recently gone up an astounding 2,800%. The Harvard doctors who wrote the current report believe that the main issue is reduced competition (less companies making the drugs) among manufacturers of generic drugs, and there is reason to suspect collusion or monopolistic practices.

There used to be 8 companies making the old heart drug digoxin, but now there are only 3, and prices have gone up significantly.  Perhaps the FDA will get involved as well.