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March 15, 2011 at 08:00 PM
Typical prices for a basket of 55 brand-name prescription drugs increased at an average annual rate of 8.3% as typical prices for a basket of 45 generic drugs fell at an average annual rate of 2.6%.
Researchers at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) have published those results in a drug price analysis prepared at the request of House Democrats.
The GAO researchers studied drug price data for a period that started in 2006 – the year Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Bentonville, Ark., started selling many generic drugs for $4 per prescription – and ended in the first quarter of 2010.
The researchers looked at the “usual and customary” prices for a basket of 100 popular drugs that included 45 generic drugs and 55 brand-name drugs.
