HealthDay News – From 2013 to 2017, there was an increase in payments for drugs prescribed to people with neurological conditions, especially branded drugs, according to a study published online March 10 in Neurology.
Adam de Havenon, MD, of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and colleagues performed a retrospective analysis of prescription claims in the Medicare Part D Prescriber Public Use Files from 2013 to 2017. In 2013, drugs were designated as generics (GEN). , brand name only (BNO) and mandatory brand name although a generic equivalent is available (BNGE).
Five hundred and twenty drugs were included – 322 GEN, 61 BNO, and 137 BNGE – representing 90,716,536 claims and resulting in payments of $ 26,654,750,720. The researchers found that from 2013 to 2017, the number of claims increased by 7.6 percent, but total payments increased by 50.4 percent. Claims payments for GEN drugs increased by 0.6 percent after adjusting for inflation, while BNO and BNGE drugs increased significantly by 42.4 and 45.9 percent, respectively. The percentage of total GEN and BNO claims increased from 81.9 to 88.0 percent and from 4.9 to 6.2 percent, respectively, while the BNGE claims decreased from 13.3 to 5.8 percent. Neuroimmunology / multiple sclerosis drugs accounted for more than 50 percent of the total payments, although only 4.3 percent of the claims were made.
“Our study shows a dramatic increase in the price of neurological drugs over five years, and the increase has remained large after death [adjusted] for inflation, ”de Havenon said in a statement.
Several authors have disclosed financial relationships with industry, including pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. One author gave medical / legal advice.
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Subjects:
General neurological treatments
