A new analysis published in Health Affairs gives more armor to a 2015 Berkeley Research Group study that found more than one-third of a drug’s list price is rebated back to payers, the government, or held by key stakeholders in the supply chain, according to a PhRMA Catalyst report.
The analysis by Nancy Yu, Preston Atteberry and Peter Bach of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center found that brand and generic biopharmaceutical companies retained about $323 billion (about two-thirds) of total drug spending.
According to the report, the remaining third was held by retail and specialty pharmacies to the tune of about $73 billion, and $35 billion by providers.
Pharmacy benefit managers and wholesales reportedly retained about $23 billion and $18 billion, respectively.
To read the full report, and to find out more about the 2015 BRG study, click here.
