A new AARP study found that manufacturers' prices for some generic drugs experienced a rapid rise over the past three years. However, these increases would have added only a few dollars per year to consumers' costs for any one of these products.
The study, from AARP's Public Policy Institute (PPI), was based on changes in manufacturers' list prices -- prices set by manufacturers for sales to wholesalers and other direct purchasers -- for 75 generic drugs widely used by Americans age 50 and older.
"Even if the increases were passed on to consumers, generic drugs are still a good buy," said report coauthor David Gross, a senior policy advisor for PPI. The report indicated that, while many of the generic drugs in the sample had high percentage increases in manufacturer list prices, more than half showed no price increase or showed price decreases. Also, because the price of a generic drug is usually low to start with, the value of these increases was just a few dollars per drug on an annual basis.
The report, conducted by AARP in conjunction with the PRIME Institute of the University of Minnesota, is part of AARP's "Watchdog" initiative on prescription drug pricing. AARP is waging a campaign to make prescription drugs more affordable. The generic drug study monitored the changes in manufacturers' list prices from 2001 through 2003.
Some other highlights from the study include: