The pharmaceutical industry has raised prices on brand-name prescription drugs by about 9 percent this year.  The run-up in prices comes at a time when prices for most consumer products are falling. Industry critics told The New York Times that drug makers are jacking up prices before Congress passes legislation designed to curb drug spending in coming years. “At a time when health care costs are soaring, I find it extremely distressing that the pharmaceutical industry is leading the pack and has raised prices for brand-name drugs by about 9 percent in the last year,” Senator Bernie Sanders said. “In Vermont and throughout this country, significant numbers of people, including many seniors, cannot afford to fill the prescriptions their doctors are writing.  Any serious health care reform package must control the costs of prescription drugs."

The higher prices for prescription medicine tacked more than $10 billion onto the nation’s drug bill, according to industry analysts.

The increase in prices puts the yearly cost at around $2,000 for a brand-name prescription drug that is taken daily. That’s about $200 more expensive than last year, Stephen W. Schondelmeyer, a professor of pharmaceutical economics at the University of Minnesota, told the Times. The professor analyzes drug pricing for AARP, the advocacy group for seniors that supports the House health care legislation that the drug industry opposes.

Read the Times article here.