2020 Drug Price Increase Driven by Generic Drugs, Biosimilars

The estimated drug price inflation rate for this year is expected to have a moderate price increase, according to Vizient’s 2022 Pharmacy Market Outlook.

The Vizient Pharmacy Program looked at forecasted projects on pharmaceutical products purchased throughout the healthcare system between July 2022 and June 2023 estimate the anticipated price change year-over-year.

In the study, the expected price change for Vizient member purchases is 3.09 percent, mainly driven by a balance between increased utilization of high-cost medications, generic drugs to market, and additional approval and launch of biosimilars.

The oncology therapeutic class remains the top category of medications, followed by infectious disease products and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).

The top five drugs by total spend include Veklury, Humira, Keytruda, Stelara, and Ocrevus. 

Keytruda makes up 22.87 percent of drug spending and has a projected inflation rate of 3.14 percent. This immune checkpoint inhibitor has had a clinical and financial impact since its market arrival in 2014.

The therapeutic class with the highest estimated price change is DMARDs due to the increases anticipated for Humira and Enbrel. These drugs will remain at the top until biosimilar competitors arrive this year.

Humira has been the top agent in global spending since 2012 and would have remained that way if not for the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, FDA-approved COVID-19 treatment, Veklury (remdesivir), replaced Humira in total spending across all classes of trade.

Veklury accounted for approximately four percent of all group purchasing spend and was about ten times higher than Xifaxan, the number two drug by spending in the anti-infectives category.

And arthritis drug Tocilizumab, also used for COVID-19 treatment, earned a new spot within the top 10 list of overall drug spending as well.

The importance of these drugs landing among the top-ranked medications reflects the current healthcare landscape, researchers explained. COVID-19 cases declined during the summer months and increased in the fall due to emerging variants, including Omicron.

Overall, Vizient predicted the price of essential medicines to increase by 2.1 percent and will use this information to initiate sourcing strategies that prioritize production.  

Additionally, the company will continue to advocate public policies that facilitate expanded supply and increased quality of products and focus on developing clinical mitigation strategies on essential medications.

“The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to place pressure on many health systems already exhausted by persistent protocol adjustments, service line changes and staying abreast of current treatment guidelines that are rapidly changing,” researchers said in the outlook.

“Our clinical team has worked to identify medications that, if not available, would provide the greatest threat to hospitals’ ability to provide immediate and high-quality patient care,” they concluded.