New Study Analyzes List and Net Prices of Diabetes Drugs

A new study considers the prices of three categories of drugs used in diabetes. The authors note an increase in the yearly list price between 8 and 15 percent, but that the net price did not always follow the list price. Competing products entered the market in each of the three drug classes between 2005 and 2017, but the influx of new products did not always lead to changes in net price.

The authors remark, “List prices for brand-name drugs have risen steeply, often despite the introduction of competition from other brand-name drugs in the same therapeutic class. List prices, however, do not reflect any rebates that manufacturers provide payers,” adding, “To understand how net prices (after rebates and other discounts) respond to competition, we compared changes in inflation-adjusted, revenue-weighted mean list and net prices of a one-month supply of three classes of diabetes drugs: glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1) agonists, dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) inhibitors, and sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors.” Read more here.

(Source: Sarpatwari et al., Health Affairs, 5/21)