Prices for prescription pharmaceutical drugs have skyrocketed, disproportionately making them harder for people of color to afford, a new report finds. The advocacy organization Patients for Affordable Drugs released a report this month showing that pharmaceutical companies increased prices on at least 1,000 prescription drugs so far this year, with about half of the price increases being above the rate of inflation. One in 3 Americans cannot afford their prescription drugs, the report states, and these high drug prices particularly affect Black and Latino patients aged 65 and over — who can be twice as likely to report difficulty in affording their medication, according to the report.
Some drugs affected by the price hike include Enhertu, which is used to treat HER2 negative breast cancer , a less aggressive form of cancer found mostly in Black women, according to the New England Journal of Medicine . The drug’s manufacturer, Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca, has raised the price of the drug eight times since its launch in 2019, the latest increase being by 3.49% in July, to more than $2,800 per month.
Other drugs, including Revlimid, used to treat multiple myeloma, rose by 7%, to more than $89,000 per month out of pocket. Black people in the U.S.
are more likely to be diagnosed with the condition and die from it, the report highlights. The wholesale acquisition cost for Enhertu does “not necessarily reflect the prices paid by consumers, payers or dispensers,” Daiichi .
