Familiar Branded Drugs Top List of Medicines with Recent Price Hikes

As inflation continues to spike, consumers have been paying increased prices on countless products over the past several months. Not only are prices higher for groceries and gasoline, but prescription drug costs have also continued to rise, with more than 150 drug manufacturers raising their prices in January.

Prices for prescription drugs typically increase in January of each year. When the calendar page flipped from December 2021 to January 2022, hundreds of individual medications saw price hikes of about 5% on average. By the end of the month, prices increased on 810 different medications, not only on branded medications but also some generic drugs, according to the latest pricing report from GoodRx Health. According to the data, the number of drugs that saw price increases were slightly less than the 832 different medications in 2021.

While the average price increase was about 5%, the GoodRx analysis showed that the branded drugs had an average price increase of 4.9%, while the 29 generic drugs that saw price hikes increased by 12.6%. Generic medicines that saw a rise included Ventolin for asthma, the heartburn medication Prilosec, thyroid drug Levoxyl and blood pressure medication Cozaar.

Some of the most commonly prescribed branded drugs also saw significant increases, including AbbVie’s Humira and its successor drug, Skyrizi. According to the report, the price of Humira, which generated about $20 billion in adjusted revenues for AbbVie last year, saw a price increase of 15%. Humira will lose patent protection next year and AbbVie has two successor drugs, Skyrizi and Rinvoq, which brought in a combined $4.6 billion in 2021 and are expected to generate a combined $15 billion in several years. Skyrizi’s price also increased by 15%.

Another branded drug that saw a significant price increase is the opioid Nucynta (tapentadol), which is used to relieve short-term pain. The price for Nucynta increased by 26%.

According to the report, Novartis’ Cosentyx, which picked up approval for two different indications at the end of 2021, also saw a 15% price hike. Cosentyx had already been approved to treat plaque psoriasis, active psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis, a form of arthritis that affects the spine. In December, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the green light for two new indications, active enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA) in patients four years and older and active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in patients two years and older. Sales of Cosentyx increased in 2021 by 17% to bring in about $4.1 billion in revenue.

Other drugs that saw increases in January include Karyopharm’s Xpovio, which saw a 6.9% sales increase, as well as Galderma’s dermatology cream, Tri-Lema, which increased its price by 9.9%.

Many of the medications that made the GoodRx list have seen steady price increases over the past several years. According to the data, approximately 60% of the drugs that saw price hikes in 2022 also had increases in price over the past two years.

As the nation lurches toward the midterm elections this year, prescription drug prices will continue to be a hot-button issue for many candidates. Earlier this month, President Joe Biden renewed his call for Congress to approve his plan to lower prices for prescriptions covered by government insurance programs like Medicare and cap out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors. The president’s Build Back Better program would also limit insulin costs to $35 per month for those covered under government insurance programs. Biden has repeatedly pointed out that the price for prescription drugs paid in the United States is about two or three times higher than what other countries pay.