Companies Raise Prices on COVID-19 Drugs, Others in Middle of Pandemic

• Morphine, fentanyl and ketamine, all used to treat COVID patients sedated and on ventilators, have been listed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as being in short supply. Certain manufacturers have increased the price of these drugs by about 10 percent.
• Chlorpromazine, an antipsychotic drug, is suggested as an alternative in the ICU when some sedation medicines are in short supply. One manufacturer’s 9.9 percent price increase could add $125 a day to the bill for an ICU patient. This drug is also in clinical trials for COVID-19.
• Vasoscript, the brand-name version of vasopressin, which is recommended for COVID-19 patients with unstable blood pressure, increased in price by 10 percent — or $197 per vial.
• Xarelto, one of a number of blood thinners widely used by older Americans, had its price increased by nearly 5 percent. A 30-tablet bottle now costs $470.
• Olumiant, which is commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, has recently been suggested to have good results with COVID-19-related respiratory disease. The price of a 30-tablet bottle of this drug was increased by nearly 6 percent — bringing the price to $2,265 a bottle.
• Ativan, a drug used to treat depression and anxiety, had a price increase of nearly 8 percent. A 100-tablet bottle now costs $5,677.
• Provenge, a prostate cancer drug, saw a price increase of 6 percent. One intravenous bottle of this chemotherapy drug now costs $62,602.

The Patients for Affordable Drugs report was released Sunday. The next day, Gilead Sciences announced that remdesivir, a drug given emergency approval to treat hospitalized coronavirus patients, will cost more than $3,000 per patient — at least 33 percent more than the company is charging in other countries.

For more than a year, through its Stop RxGreed campaign, AARP has been urging lawmakers to act to lower the cost of prescription drugs. “U.S. taxpayers helped fund remdesivir's research and development to the tune of nearly $100 million and now Gilead wants Americans to pay at least a third higher than the rest of the world,” says Nancy LeaMond, AARP executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer. “That is simply unacceptable."

In its report, Patients for Affordable Drugs calls on Congress to penalize drug manufacturers for increasing prices faster than the rate of inflation, allow the federal government to negotiate drug prices, increase transparency in the generic medication pricing system, and ensure that the public money used to fund the development of new products be taken into consideration in setting prices.

As part of its support for holding pharmaceutical companies accountable, AARP has endorsed H.R. 7288, a House of Representatives bill that would enable consumers and policymakers to fully understand how much American taxpayers invest in pharmaceutical development by creating a database to track how federal funds have been spent and which drug manufacturers have received significant federal support.