By David Belk, M.D.
A number of generic medications have skyrocketed in price recently and quite a few people have asked me about it. In order to comprehensively address this problem (or at least define it) I did a survey of what pharmacies in the US have paid for 1,240 listings (including different doses and preparations) of over 400 generic prescription medications each quarter from October 4, 2012 through January 7, 2015). I tracked how the price of each listing changed each quarter and in total.
Among my findings:
- Nearly half of the generic listings (604 in total) actually went down in price during this time. Among these, 349 listings went down 10% or more, 38 went down 50% or more and 14 of them decreased by at least 90% in price.
- Nearly half of the generic listings (604 in total) actually went down in price during this time. Among these, 349 listings went down 10% or more, 38 went down 50% or more and 14 of them decreased by at least 90% in price.
That’s the good news. On the other hand-
- Nearly half of the generic listings surveyed (607 in total) went up in price- many way up. Among these, 314 of the listings went up at least 50% in price, 240 of the listings (20%) at least doubled in price, 87 went up at least five times in price and 42 of them went up ten or more times in price since October, 2012.
The details of which medications went up or down in price as well as the hows and whys of it all are addressed as best I could in this new section of my website:
