Drug price increases layered over decades: AARP analysis shows how list prices can rise by more than 700%

A new AARP analy­sis re­leased Thurs­day shows how list prices for the 25 top Medicare Part D drugs in­creased by an av­er­age of 226% since they first en­tered the mar­ket, mak­ing the need clear for the up­com­ing gov­ern­ment drug price ne­go­ti­a­tions and on­go­ing in­fla­tion-re­lat­ed re­bates, the re­tirees’ group said.

The find­ings from the re­port, which au­thor and AARP drug pol­i­cy prin­ci­pal Leigh Purvis said “serves as a wake-up call,” shows how all but one of the top 25 drugs’ life­time price in­creas­es great­ly ex­ceed­ed the rate of in­fla­tion, adding fu­el to the fire around the need for ne­go­ti­a­tions.

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