Pharmaceutical Companies Hike Drug Prices During COVID-19 Pandemic

Pharmaceutical companies significantly increased drug costs for 245 drugs between January 20 and June 20, with more than 75 percent of the drugs impacted directly pertaining to COVID-19, according to a recent report.

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“It’s outrageous, but not surprising, that against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, drug corporations have continued to raise the prices of drugs critical to keeping Americans healthy and alive,”  David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs, said in the report.

“Patients are hurting from this pandemic with widespread unemployment, insurance loss, and heightened risk for COVID-19. More than ever we all need to be able to afford our medications.”

Since 70 percent of COVID-19 cases do not require hospitalization, more than one million sick Americans may be relying on medications such as Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and Reglan to treat COVID-19 symptoms.

Due to the reliance patients have on certain medications, the pharmaceutical industry has hiked the prices of more than 40 of these medications, researchers from the Patients For Affordable Drugs stated.

Some patients with severe COVID-19 may need ventilators, and therefore ICU beds. This has led to a 67 percent increase for vital drugs used to sedate ventilated patients by the end of March.

Due to the demand, FDA declared a shortage of sedatives such as morphine, fentanyl, and ketamine.

Specifically, Hika Pharmaceuticals increased the price of its morphine, Duramorph, by 59 percent and ketamine by 9.9 percent. The 9.9 percent increase could raise a patient’s medical bill by $125 a day, researchers pointed out.

Steroids are vital to patients and are currently a promising frontrunner in clinical trials, researchers stated.

Raynos, Horizon Pharmaceutical’s branded version of prednisone increased in price by 4.6 percent. This brought the price to $2,762 in February. And Par Pharmaceutical’s version of vasopressin, a recommended drug for COVID-19 patients, was increased by $197 in February.

Blood-thinning medications are important to prevent clotting, but many blood thinners have seen price hikes since January. Some of these drugs include warfarin, heparin, and dipyridamole.

Janssen’s Xarelto increased by 4.9 percent, which rose the price per 30-tablet bottle to $470.

Currently, there are 1,500 clinical trials underway to find potential treatments and vaccines for COVID-19. Most of these clinical trials are testing already existing drugs.

Since January, 30 of these drugs have increased in price. Researchers believe that companies are increasing their prices in anticipation of the expected increase in demand if specific drugs show promise in trials.

For example, Ascor, or IV vitamin C, saw a 110 percent increase in price on May 5th. And oxytocin, which is currently in Phase II clinical trials for COVID-19, had a price hike of 57 percent in late March. 

Eli Lilly and Company increased the price for its rheumatoid arthritis drug and promising treatment for COVID-19, olumiant (baricitinib), by $127 on January 31st. The price for a 30-tablet bottle is now $2,265.

Before the pandemic, one in three Americans did not take their medications as prescribed because of high costs, but during a global pandemic, forgoing a medication due to cost is even riskier, researchers said.

Individuals with chronic diseases are at a higher risk of being severely ill if they contract COVID-19.

Recently, some pharmaceutical companies have hiked the price of 25 cancer medications, 23 cardiovascular medications, nine autoimmune treatments, and nine HIV drugs.

For example, farydak, for multiple myeloma, saw a price increase of $927.20. And provenge, for prostate cancer, has experienced a price hike of nearly $3,500 ($3,487).

Mental health is also at stake during a pandemic. Nearly 40 percent of Americans agreed that their mental health was negatively impacted by COVID-19, and by mid-April there was a 21 percent increase in demand for antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs, and anti-insomnia drugs, researchers reported.

Anxiety and depression drugs such as ativan, lithobid, paxil, and spravato, were increased by $415.69, $110.57, $18.77, and $28.92, respectively.

Pharmaceutical companies are going to continue exploiting the current crisis by hiking prices of existing drugs that have potential to treat COVID-19.

Researchers recommend that congress take four steps to address this issue, including to:

• Penalize drug manufacturers for increasing their prices faster than the rate of inflation
• Require the federal government to negotiate drug prices on behalf of US taxpayers and federal health programs
• Require HHS to bring transparency into the generic pricing system
• Account for public investment in the final price