According to a new study, drug prices in the United States are almost five times higher than in similarly developed countries.
Researchers looked at 10 drugs that had just been negotiated by U.S. government officials to lower the cost for older Americans with arthritis, psoriasis, leukemia, heart failure and diabetes.
Aside from insulin, all drugs studied remained more expensive in the United States than in the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Switzerland, Canada and France.
For example, Jardiance, a diabetes drug made by German company Boehringer Ingelheim, costs $197 a month in the US, 4.8 times the cost in Australia.
These findings come after the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act gave Medicare – the government’s health program for seniors – the power to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. They officially began that program earlier this year with the ten drugs analyzed in the new study.
Dr Jared Ross, president of Emergency Medical Services, Education and Consulting, told DailyMail.com the findings showed this move was largely “symbolic”.
Dr Ross said: “I think everyone knew that this was not going to have a major impact, but this was so that we could demonstrate both from the political side and from the pharmaceutical side that they were trying to change this, or at least at least give the outward impression of changing it.
Of the ten recipes studied, at least three are manufactured by American companies, but they are not cheaper for American consumers.
This includes Xarelto, made by Johnson and Johnson to treat type 2 diabetes; Eliquis, made by Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer to treat atrial fibrillation; and Enbrel, made by Amgen to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican politician recently chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to co-chair the Department of Government Efficiency, recently blamed the problem of exorbitant drug prices in the United States on FDA bureaucracy.
He said the organization “raises unnecessary barriers” and requires more testing of drugs from other nations, which “prevents patients from accessing promising therapies” and drives up costs.
Dr. Ross agreed that the time it takes to bring a drug to market can contribute to its cost, but said the issue is more complex than that.
In other countries, they also have stricter patent regulations, price controls, and a greater willingness to negotiate drug prices. These factors keep drug prices lower, he said.
In the United States, without these controls, Dr. Ross said companies can set the price of their drugs with less oversight, and consumers have to pay the price that appears when there is only one treatment option on the market.
Dr Ross added: “What we don’t have is that we don’t have a free market, and the (drug) negotiations were an attempt to give the appearance of a free market.”
All of this adds up to create a significant difference in U.S. healthcare compared to other countries.
Even after adjusting for inflation, spending on prescription drugs has increased steadily in the country since the 1960s. Medical debt is the leading reason for bankruptcy in the country.
Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency alongside businessman Elon Musk under President-elect Trump.
Researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science led the study, although it also included collaborators from American schools.
Their results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
They collected data on drug prices in the United States from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and other countries using a database from a company called IQVIA, which tracks data from the life sciences industry.
The study focused on the newly negotiated drug prices created by the Inflation Reduction Act.
The IRA added a provision calling on Medicare to set upper limits on the price of common prescription drugs.
After setting a limit, they can also negotiate drug prices based on how they compare to alternatives.
CMS officials started with ten drugs and published their findings in August 2024.
These included Stelara, Enbrel, Entresto, Imbruvica, Eliquis, Xarelto, Jardiance, Januvia, Farxiga and NovoLog/Fiasp.
The renegotiation caused the maximum price to decrease by up to 42 percent.
Stelara, an injection that treats Crohn’s disease, psoriasis and ulcerative colitis, will cost about $4,695 for 30 days of treatment in the United States.
In Australia, the cost is approximately 250 percent less, representing $1,341 for 30 days of treatments. In the UK it costs $1291.
Enbrel, an injection that treats rheumatoid arthritis, costs about $2,355 for 30 days of treatment. In comparison, it costs around $754 in Australia and $851 in the UK.
Jardianace, a blood sugar-lowering medication that treats type 2 diabetes, costs about $197 for 30 days of treatment.
That’s a 488 percent increase over Australia, where the drug costs $33, and a 316 percent increase over the United Kingdom, where the drug costs $50.93.
Jardiance is a medication that works to lower blood sugar and is useful in controlling some of the symptoms of type 2 diabetes. With the new negotiations, it costs about $197 a month in the United States, compared to $50 in Germany and $67 in Canada.
The only drug that was priced close to or lower than other countries was NovoLog/Fiasp, an insulin used to control diabetes. Last year, the drug’s price was capped after widespread complaints about price gouging.
In the United States, a monthly supply of the drug costs $8.96, compared with $5.44 in Australia, $7.38 in the United Kingdom and $11.09 in Germany.
Although the study authors noted that drug prices remained consistently higher in the U.S., they said, “The gap between U.S. and non-U.S. prices narrowed for all drugs.”
Still, Dr. Eric Arzubi, ZEO of Frontier Psychiatry, told DM.com that the changes made in the new CMS negotiations are not significant enough.
He said: ‘While the study shows an average decline in drug prices in the United States, they remain up to 4 times higher compared to those in other industrialized countries. “I’m not sure we can call that a victory.”
To lower drug prices in the United States, he said, the government would have to be more willing to negotiate with companies to lower prices, from drugs to dialysis care.
Dr. Ross said, “Unfortunately, and for better or worse, we have a health system and health care mentality in the US, where no price is too expensive for care.”
Additionally, stricter enforcement of patent laws could encourage more drugs to enter the market, lowering the price of original formulations and making prescriptions more affordable overall.
Finally, in other countries, he said, they use price controls, which the United States largely lacks.