Brand Name Drug Prices Gorw ... about 2.5 times overall inflation, continuing a long-standing trend

Mar 4, 7:14 PM EST | Brand-Name Drug Prices Continue to Grow | By KEVIN FREKING | Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Drug makers increased their prices last year by an average of 7.4 percent for brand-name medicines most commonly prescribed to the elderly, according to the advocacy group AARP.

The increase was about 2.5 times overall inflation, continuing a long-standing trend.

The advocacy group has tracked drug prices going back to 2002. Specifically, it looks at the prices charged to wholesalers. It noted that the price increases have been slightly greater since the Medicare drug benefit kicked in Jan. 1, 2006.

In the four years before the benefit's startup, wholesale prices rose between 5.3 percent and 6.6 percent a year, according to AARP's tracking.
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All but four of the 220 brand-name prescriptions in the study had price increases during 2007. Nearly all exceeded the rate of general inflation. Among the top 25 drug products, the sleep aid Ambien had the largest price increase, 27.7 percent. Ambien is manufactured by Sanofi-Aventis. On the other end of the spectrum, Merck's cholesterol drug Zocor had no price change in 2007. Also, Bristol-Myers Squibb's blood thinner Plavix had a price increase of 0.5 percent.