Brand-name prescription drugs are significantly more expensive that exact generic equivalents or similar generic alternatives.  That might be OK if the higher price also provided added value.

In Canada and most European countries expensive brand name drugs are reviewed to assure that they provide additional value before being offered to citizens. 

In a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Added Therapeutic Benefit of Top-Selling Brand Name Drugs in Medicare – April 18, 2023 issue of JAMA) researchers studied the added therapeutic benefit provided by the 50 top-selling US brand-name drugs covered under Medicare parts B and D. They did so by examining how the drugs were rated for safety and effectiveness compared with existing treatments by health technology agencies (HTAs) in Canada, France and Germany.  In general the HTAs found not much added value from highly prescribed brand name drugs with viable low cost alternatives.  

The HTAs found that across the three countries, 27 of the drugs (55%), were rated low for added therapeutic benefit. Those drugs account for more than $19 billion in annual estimated net spending, or 35% of Medicare net spending on the top 50 drugs and 11% of its total prescription drug spending in 2020.

Moreover, drugs with low added therapeutic ratings were prescribed to far more beneficiaries than those with high ratings (387,149 versus 44,869.) Drugs with a high added benefit rating had a median annual net spending per beneficiary of $32,387, compared with $992 per beneficiary among drugs with a low added therapeutic benefit rating.

Drugs with low added therapeutic rates were most commonly prescribed to treat endocrine disorders (diabetes) and respiratory diseases (asthma and COPD), the study found, while those with high added ratings were prescribed most commonly for cancer patients.

The authors explain that their findings could have important implications for future drug prices. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act allows Medicare, for the first time, to negotiate with pharmaceutical manufacturers for a small number of top-selling drugs beginning in 2023. Seven of the drugs to be negotiated were among those rated as having low added therapeutic benefit.

You don’t have to wait for Medicare to negotiate drug prices to switch to an equally effective low cost alternative and save yourself a lot of copay expense.  Call Union Medical Pharmacy to set up a phone appointment to review your medications and see you may be able to reduce your out of pocket costs by switching to a non-brand alternative.  Medication regimen reviews are complimentary for patients of Union Medical Pharmacy.