American Spending on Top 20 Drugs Nearly Doubles the Rest of the World Combined

The United States outspent each different state successful the satellite combined erstwhile it came to the top-selling 20 pharmaceutical drugs, according to a caller investigation of institution fiscal filings by Public Citizen.

Americans spent a full of $101.1 billion, portion the remainder of the satellite spent $56.8 billion, connected the apical 20 drugs. The cardinal findings of the investigation study (pdf) bespeak that U.S. consumers overpay for drugs, and bash not needfully intake much than radical from different countries.

The best-selling 20 drugs brought $157.8 cardinal successful full planetary gross for pharma companies with the U.S. accounting for 64 percent of the gross pie. The sizable disparity makes the U.S. marketplace fundamentally a currency cattle for Big Pharma, which is warring efforts to alteration the spending.

“Deceptive TV ads paid for by Big Pharma effort to frighten and mislead Americans astir caller legislative efforts that would empower Medicare to negociate cause prices,” said the report.

Medicare is presently prohibited from mounting prices connected drugs. If Medicare is fixed the authorization to negociate with cause manufacturers, Americans could spot a important lowering successful medicinal costs. The “billions successful cost-savings that could beryllium utilized to amended and grow Medicare, including by expanding entree to treatments arsenic good arsenic to dental, proceeding and ocular care.”

According to the report’s cardinal findings, “11 of the 13 pharmaceutical companies selling these apical drugs made much wealth successful the United States from these drugs than they did successful the remainder of the satellite combined.”

Back successful 2019, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3, a measure that allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to negociate prices with pharma companies successful the Medicare program. This applies to 250 medicine drugs each year, including the 125 costly ones offered nether Medicare Part D oregon sold commercially.

Under H.R. 3, prices would beryllium compared and based connected those successful the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, and Japan. Prices would beryllium made disposable to insurers and organizers that sponsor Medicare Part D, and they volition beryllium capable to participate into further dialog for much discounts. If the shaper refuses to participate negotiation, an excise taxation of up to 95 percent of the drug’s income tin beryllium applied connected the company.

“Negotiation that uses an precocious bounds based connected planetary prices, specified arsenic the 1 projected successful H.R. 3, is expected to trim costs for patients successful Medicare Part D and the commercialized marketplace done little beneficiary premiums and cost-sharing,” according to a report successful The Commonwealth Fund.

Some of the drugs with the biggest income disparities see Gilead Sciences’ HIV medication, Biktarvy, and Humira, an autoimmune illness cause from AbbVie, which had U.S. income revenues that were respectively 5 times and 4 times much than the remainder of the world.