ICER Report Finds Over $800 Million in Clinically Unsupported Drug Price Hikes During 2021

Seven of the 10 drugs with the highest estimated overall cost to the U.S. health care system in 2021 saw price hikes that were unsupported by new clinical evidence, according to the latest edition of the Unsupported Price Increase Report prepared by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER). The report may be the one of the last to document business as usual for the pharmaceutical industry: Starting in 2023, as a result of this year’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), drug companies will face pressure from Medicare to restrict price hikes. 

The seven drugs introduced $801 million in “incremental added costs to U.S. payers in 2021,” according to the report . ICER also separately identified three Medicare Part B drugs with clinically unsupported price increases. Three of the named drugs also appeared in last year’s report: Salix Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s Xifaxan (rifaximin); Novartis AG’s Promacta (eltrombopag); and Horizon Pharma plc’s Krystexxa (pegloticase), which was on 2021’s Part B list and 2020’s main list.