Major medicine companies took hefty price increases in the US, in some cases more than doubling listed charges, for widely used medications over the past five years, a Reuters analysis of proprietary data found.

Prices for four of the nation’s top 10 drugs increased more than 100 per cent since 2011, Reuters found. Six others went up more than 50 per cent. Together, the price increases on drugs for arthritis, high cholesterol, asthma and other common problems added billions in costs for consumers, employers and government health programmes.

Extraordinary price hikes by two small companies, Turing Pharmaceuticals and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, drew new attention to drug costs. Turing expected to book $200 million by raising the price of Daraprim, an antiparasitic used for a rare infection, by 5,000 per cent, according to company documents released by Congressional investigators.

Routine price increases by bigger players may draw less attention, but they add up. Sales for the top 10 drugs went up 44 per cent to $54 million in 2014, from 2011.

At the top of the list was AbbVie Inc, which raised the price of arthritis drug Humira more than 126 per cent, Reuters found. Next were Amgen Inc and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, which raised prices for arthritis treatment Enbrel and multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone by 118 per cent.

The increases help explain federal data showing overall spending on drugs rose faster than doctor visits and hospitalisation over the past five years.

Reuters based its analysis on the top 10 drugs, according to 2014 sales figures from IMS, and on proprietary pricing data provided by Truven Health Analytics.

In general, drug companies said they set prices to recoup investments in failed drugs, support new research and development efforts, and pay for clinical trials to broaden the use of approved drugs. Also, they said, medications prevent costly hospitalisations.

Some of the companies noted that Reuters’ analysis of list prices failed to capture negotiated discounts and rebates – information they closely guard. In a few cases, companies offered a limited view into proprietary prices.

Drug prices have been a hot topic on the presidential campaign trail and in Congress since Turing hiked Daraprim and Valeant imposed triple-digit price increases on two heart drugs. Leading drugmakers say price hikes by Turing and Valeant are outliers. Sanofi SA, Teva, Amgen, J&J and AstraZeneca, which all have top 10 drugs, said they offer assistance to low income consumers.

Moroever, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre oncologist Peter Bach said patients would be better served if drug prices reflected value, instead of bargaining power. In a statement, Amgen spokeswoman Kristen Davis questioned Bach’s estimate, saying it is impossible to infer revenue growth from list price increases because of other factors, including rebates.

Davis said Amgen prices reflect research and development costs of $33 billion over a decade.

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