PhRMA attacks US GAO report finding "extraordinary" price hikes
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
After a 2008 congressional hearing drew attention to the escalated prices of certain brand-name drugs used to treat rare diseases, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review "extraordinary" price increases – a price increase of 100% or more at a single point in time. A report has now been put forward outlining how certain medicines (not just orphan drugs) have had huge price hikes from 2000-08, due to a variety of factors. However, PhRMA quickly issued a statement alleging that the report focused on a small number of medicines rather than the entire prescription drug market and that the overall growth in drug spending has been slowing.
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