{"id":1242,"date":"2018-04-27T10:19:47","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T16:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/?p=1242"},"modified":"2024-07-14T05:40:22","modified_gmt":"2024-07-14T10:40:22","slug":"the-manufactured-crisis-of-prescription-drug-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/2018\/04\/27\/the-manufactured-crisis-of-prescription-drug-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"The Manufactured Crisis of Prescription Drug Prices"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

“Manufactured Crisis – How Devastating Drug Price Increases Are Harming America’s Seniors”<\/a> <\/i><\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This report was prepared in 2018 by the U.S. Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee Minority Office as requested by Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It examines the history of rising drug prices between 2012 and 2017 for the twenty brand-name drugs most commonly prescribed for seniors.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Drugs were identified using data from Medicare Part D, and average prices were statistically calculated to come up with annual weighted average wholesale acquisition costs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Of the twenty drugs in the report, two are used off-label for psychiatric purposes:
\u00a7<\/b>\u00a0Lyrica (pregabalin)<\/a>, approved for controlling epileptic seizures and neuropathic pain, is also used off-label as an anti-anxiety drug; it carries a warning that it may cause suicidal thoughts or actions.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u00a7<\/b> Synthroid (levothyroxine), a synthetic thyroid hormone approved for hypothyroidism, is also used off-label as an antidepressant, although a specific, causally significant hormonal deficiency has not been identified for depression; it has potential side effects of hair loss, mental and mood changes such as depression, easily broken bones, heart problems, and seizures.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A Lyrica prescription rose in average cost between 2012 and 2017 from $264 to $600 (a 127% increase), while the number of prescriptions rose from 9.1 million to 10.3 million (a 14% increase).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A Synthroid prescription rose in average cost between 2012 and 2017 from $96 to $153 (a 60% increase), while the number of prescriptions dropped from 23.0 million to 18.4 million (a 20% drop).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The report concludes, “Soaring pharmaceutical drug prices remain a critical concern for patients and policymakers alike. Over the last decade, these significant price increases have emerged as a dominant driver of U.S. health care costs.”<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Frankly, we do not have a particular bone to pick about the cost of prescription drugs; what does concern us more is the off-label use of medical drugs for fraudulent psychiatric conditions<\/a>, and the seriousness of their potential side effects. If this concerns you as well, please let Senator McCaskill know<\/a> your thoughts about this.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We recommend informed consent<\/a> for any treatment plan. Protect yourself, your family and friends, with full informed consent. Courts have determined that informed consent for people who receive prescriptions for psychotropic (mood-altering) drugs must include the doctor providing information about possible side effects and benefits, ways to treat side effects, and risks of other conditions, as well as information about alternative treatments.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Manufactured Crisis – How Devastating Drug Price Increases Are Harming America’s Seniors” This report was prepared in 2018 by the U.S. Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee Minority Office as requested by Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri. It examines … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[42,18,44,28,62,59,77],"class_list":["post-1242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-muddy-river-newsletter","category-press-releases","tag-anti-anxiety","tag-antidepressant","tag-elderly-abuse","tag-fraud","tag-informed-consent","tag-missouri","tag-psychiatric-drugs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6NMpC-k2","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}