'Extraordinary' Price Increases

[Cliff]

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100111-713220.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
"GAO: Some Drugs Had 'Extraordinary' Price Increases"
[
Prices for more than 400 brand-name drugs jumped extraordinarily, sometimes as
much as tenfold, in the last eight years and a lack of competition may be to
blame, the Government Accountability Office said on Monday.

Drugs with large price increases include Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. and
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s (BMY) antipsychotic drug Abilify, Sanofi-Aventis SA's
(SNY) sleep-aid Ambien and GlaxoSmithKline PLC's (GSK) anti-depression medicine
Paxil.

The report doesn't describe the price increases for each drug but mentions some
medicines with large price increases by name.

The GAO said a variety of reasons might factor into a drug-price increase, such
as a lack of competition and raw material disruption. The majority of price
increases came from drug repackagers, not the manufacturer of the medicine
itself, the GAO said. Abilify, Ambien and Paxil are repackaged medicines, the
GAO said.

The prices of brand-name drugs have been a sensitive topic as Congress grapples
with controlling health-care costs. Just a few weeks ago, the Senate voted down
a measure to allow the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada
amid concerns rising costs for medicines are adding to the nation's deficit.
...
]