AN EVALUATION OF INJECTABLE DRUG PRICES DURING TIMES OF SHORTAGE IN THE UNITED STATES

Author(s)

Aguilar A, Campbell P, Malone DC
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

OBJECTIVES: To examine trends in drug prices for injectable products listed on the American Society of Health-system Pharmacists (ASHP) drug shortage list. METHODS:  Medications were identified using the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists Current Drug Shortages list and if the shortage limited supply to a large academic medical center in the US. National Drug Codes (NDCs) for affected and available products were retrieved from the ASHP Current Drug Shortages updates pages. Wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) and historical average whole sale prices (AWP) price for each NDC was obtained from Red Book. Price changes were based on the defined daily dose (DDD). A WAC per DDD (or alternate dose) was calculated for each NDC and changes in AWP between January 1, 2015 and March 22, 2016 were identified. RESULTS:  There were 25 drug products identified with cost data for 454 NDCs. The WAC per DDD ranged from $1.23 to $234.60 for the 207 medications on shortage and from $1.40 to $139.09 for the 247 available products. Seventy-five of 454 NDCs (16.5%) had price changes in 2015 or 2016 (38 products on shortage and 37 products without shortages). Changes in price ranged from decreases of 87.5% to increases of 197.6% with the majority (87%) of products having an increase in AWP. Increases greater than 50% in AWP were observed in 9 drugs on the shortage list but only two products widely available. CONCLUSIONS:  Injectable medication prices appeared to be unaffected by drug shortage status. Few products experienced decreases in AWP or increases greater than 50% while on the drug shortage list. Further research is needed to identify other factors associated with drug price changes.

Conference/Value in Health Info

2017-05, ISPOR 2017, Boston, MA, USA

Value in Health, Vol. 20, No. 5 (May 2017)

Code

PHP75

Topic

Economic Evaluation

Topic Subcategory

Cost/Cost of Illness/Resource Use Studies

Disease

Multiple Diseases

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