Analysis finds novel drugs will get record prices in 2022

Drug companies are asking for lofty prices for new medications coming to market, a Reuters analysis finds, often while disclosing little pricing information about the treatments.

Investigators put the median price at $257,000 a year for 13 novel drugs receiving FDA clearance to treat chronic diseases so far in 2022. That far exceeds the 2021 number reported in a JAMA article in which researchers calculated a median annual price of $180,000 based on the first 30 drugs marketing through mid-July of last year.

While Reuters included drugs that are used intermittently and did not adjust for rare-drug treatments that are exceptionally expensive, its finding nonetheless underscore the continued upward trajectory of prices for new drugs.

Industry insiders maintain that the pricing is a reflection of drugs’ value and also note that it is health plans, not drugmakers, that determine how much U.S. consumers pay for their prescriptions.

Still, when pressed by Reuters for pricing data, 6 of the 15 manufacturers with new drugs out this year ignored the request or provided only “per vial” cost estimates. Experts suspect drugmakers may be providing only partial or incomplete disclosures in an effort to take the focus off of steep annual costs.