Financial Toxicity of Prescription Drugs
Authors: Rena M. Conti
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2019)

Editorials5 November 2019Financial Toxicity of Prescription DrugsRena M. Conti, PhDRena M. Conti, PhDBoston University Questrom School of Business, Boston, Massachusetts (R.M.C.)Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M19-2899 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Luo and colleagues (1) examined variation by pharmacy type and ZIP code in the prices of 6 on-patent and 10 off-patent (generic) prescription drugs throughout the United States in 2015. They found evidence of statistically significant variation by pharmacy type in the prices of generic drugs and less variation in the prices of branded drugs.In the growing literature on prescription drug pricing in the United States, this study is notable for its data source. The pricing data are from GoodRx, a Web-based vendor offering coupons and discount drug cards to Americans. The company's motto is, “Stop paying too much ...References1. Luo J, Kulldorff M, Sarpatwari A, et al. Variation in prescription drug prices by retail pharmacy type. A national cross-sectional study. Ann Intern Med. 2019;171:605-11. doi:10.7326/M18-1138 LinkGoogle Scholar2. Arora S, Sood N, Terp S, et al. The price may not be right: the value of comparison shopping for prescription drugs. Am J Manag Care. 2017;23:410-5. [PMID: 28817779] MedlineGoogle Scholar3. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. NADAC (National Average Drug Acquisition Cost). 2019. Accessed at https://data.medicaid.gov/Drug-Pricing-and-Payment/NADAC-National-Average-Drug-Acquisition-Cost-/a4y5-998d on 17 September 2019. Google Scholar4. IBM Micromedex Red Book. Accessed at www.ibm.com/us-en/marketplace/micromedex-red-book on 17 September 2019. Google Scholar5. Zhang Y, Baicker K, Newhouse JP. Geographic variation in Medicare drug spending. N Engl J Med. 2010;363:405-9. [PMID: 20538621] doi:10.1056/NEJMp1004872 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar6. Zhang Y, Baik SH, Fendrick AM, et al. Comparing local and regional variation in health care spending. N Engl J Med. 2012;367:1724-31. [PMID: 23113483] doi:10.1056/NEJMsa1203980 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar7. Everlance. 2019 gasoline prices per state: what determines the price we pay for gas? Accessed at www.everlance.com/blog/gasoline-prices-per-state-and-what-determines-the-price-we-pay-for-gas on 17 September 2019. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Boston University Questrom School of Business, Boston, Massachusetts (R.M.C.)Disclosures: The author has disclosed no conflicts of interest. The form can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M19-2899.Corresponding Author: Rena M. Conti, PhD, Boston University Questrom School of Business, 595 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215; e-mail, [email protected]edu.This article was published at Annals.org on 1 October 2019. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoVariation in Prescription Drug Prices by Retail Pharmacy Type Jing Luo , Martin Kulldorff , Ameet Sarpatwari , Ajinkya Pawar , and Aaron S. Kesselheim Metrics Cited byGeneric drug prices vary between US pharmacies 5 November 2019Volume 171, Issue 9Page: 665-666KeywordsData acquisitionDatabasesDrug pricesDrugsGeographic areasInformation storage and retrievalLibrariesResearch designRural areasToxicity ePublished: 1 October 2019 Issue Published: 5 November 2019 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2019 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...