Prices Spike for Drugs Used to Treat Multiple Sclerosis

From 2006 to 2016, the prices of self-administered disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for multiple sclerosis increased, according to a study published online in JAMA Neurology.

Alvaro San-Juan-Rodriguez, Pharm.D., from the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues used claims data from 2006 through 2016 for Medicare beneficiaries to assess trends in prices, market share, and spending on self-administered DMTs for multiple sclerosis.

The researchers found that from 2006 to 2016, the annual costs of treatment with self-administered DMTs for multiple sclerosis more than quadrupled, from a mean of $18,660 to $75,847 (mean annual increase, 12.8 percent). Across the study period, brand-name glatiramers accounted for the largest market share, ranging from 32.2 to 48.4 percent. From 2006 to 2016, there was a substantial drop in platform therapies in favor of newer therapies; decreases were seen in the market shares of brand-name glatiramers (from 36.7 to 32.2 percent), interferon beta-1a (30 µg: 32.3 to 14.2 percent), interferon beta-1b (18.7 to 4.5 percent), and interferon beta-1a (8.8/22/44 µg: 12.2 to 8.3 percent); increases were seen in fingolimod (to 7.9 percent), teriflunomide (to 9.0 percent), and dimethyl fumarate (to 19.2 percent). There was a 10.2-fold increase in pharmaceutical spending per 1,000 beneficiaries during the study period and a 7.2-fold increase in out-of-pocket patient spending.

"These findings suggest that market entry of new multiple sclerosis drugs may have contributed to higher drug prices among incumbent agents," the authors write.

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