Nursefriendly.com: Prescription Pills

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Branded drug prices soar as generic pressure rises | Reuters

Pharmacists in Jordan-based Hikma Pharmaceuticals package generic versions of Ciprofloxacin hydrochloride 750 mg which will be exported to the U.S. and Western markets in Amman February 8, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Ali Jarekji

By Deena Beasley

LOS ANGELES | Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:46am EDT

LOS ANGELES
(Reuters) - U.S. prices for brand-name drugs are rising faster than ever as patents expire on top-selling medicines and the pharmaceutical industry nervously eyes the future of healthcare reform.
Prices for the 15 best-selling drugs rose by much higher rates in 2010 than they did in each of the last five years, according to exclusive data from Thomson Reuters MarketScan, which measured the average cost of a daily dose as shown in medical claims data.
Two thirds of the drugs saw double-digit price hikes, well above inflation of 1.6 percent in 2010 measured by the consumer price index. The analysis indicates drug makers are scrambling to make as much money as possible from blockbuster drugs before their patents expire, while taking advantage of the fact that last year's healthcare reform bill did not cap drug prices.
According to MarketScan, payments for Pfizer Inc's Lipitor rose 11.4 percent last year, compared with 5 percent annually from 2005 to 2010. That meant the cost of a daily dose of the cholesterol drug rose from $3.17 at the end of 2009 to $3.53 at the end of 2010. Lipitor, which will soon lose patent protection, had 2010 global sales of $10.7 billion.

via reuters.com

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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Prescription Medications Take on Leading Role in Illegal Drug Trade - Nursing Link

Brian Freskos | Star-News, Wilmington, N.C.

February 22, 2011

Feb. 17—When Lt. J.A. LeBlanc arrived at the New Hanover County Vice and Narcotics Unit in 2001, one detective could handle the volume of prescription drug cases. Now, he said, all 16 detectives investigate them.

Street drugs such as cocaine and heroin have long been the targets of authorities seeking to root out illicit substances. But in recent years, growing prescription drug abuse has shifted law enforcement’s focus to stemming the flow of dangerous medications onto the black market.

Abuse of prescription medications, particularly narcotic pain relievers such as hydrocodone and oxycodone, is rising precipitously, leading White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske last June to call it the “nation’s fastest-growing drug problem.” Between 1998 and 2008, treatment admissions for prescription pill addicts posted a 400 percent increase, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Southeastern North Carolina has not escaped what many law enforcement officials call an epidemic. Between 2004 and 2010, the New Hanover County Vice and Narcotics Unit seized nearly 15,100 pills — 3,749 of them in 2010 alone, the largest county pill haul in four years.

via nursinglink.monster.com

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