RH Jones: 13th check not a dead issue

From RH Jones, February 21, 2008
Subject: Re: Rx Wholesale Prices Rose 7.82% in 2007....did your income do as well?

John,

This is why the great legislators of the past put the 13th check into the ORC.

The Beacon mentioned this morning that retail prices have risen well over 7%. Therefore, the very fairly distributed 13th check is definitely not a waste of STRS funding. It is a moral obligation of the STRS to keep us up with ever climbing inflation of the dollar. The 13th ck. does just that. It is an important fringe benefit that the long past OEA-R & ORTA fought hard to get for retired teachers. People are WRONG if they think the 13th ck. is a past issue. With oil at over $100 how else can retired teachers stay up? The simple yearly 3% COLA just does not do the job. WE NEED OUR 13th ck. NOW! It should have been issued before last year's end. And that is a fact!

RHJones, a retired STRS member

From John Curry, February 21, 2008
Subject: Rx Wholesale Prices Rose 7.82% in 2007....did your income do as well?

Drug Wholesale Prices Rose 7.82 Percent In ‘07

February 21, 2008
By Ed Silverman
Source: www.pharmalot.com

Drugmakers increased wholesale prices for the 50 top-selling branded drugs by an average of 7.82 percent last year, after increases of 6.73 percent and 6.22 percent in the previous two years, according to Delta Marketing Dynamics. The most recent increase is almost double the overall US economy’s 4.1 percent annual inflation rate last year, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Some individual drugs had double-digit price increases over three years. Glaxo, for instance, raised the price of its Wellbutrin XL antidepressant by 44.5 percent from 2005 to 2007. Sanofi-Aventis boosted the price of its Ambien sleeping pill by 70.1 percent. Shire hiked the price of its Adderall XR ADD drug by 33.5 percent. And Pfizer increased Lipitor’s price by 16 percent.

The Delta Marketing figures represent the wholesale acquisition cost, which is the manufacturers’ list price for a drug, the Journal notes. This doesn’t reflect underlying rebates and discounts given to wholesalers and large purchasers, such as health insurers and pharmacy-benefit managers. While the wholesale list price isn’t what most customers pay, raising it may help boost the starting point for negotiating a final price, the paper adds.

Prices are going up because - drugmakers are trying to keep revenues afloat by raising prices ahead of patent expirations in hopes that patients will switch to newer meds that have market exclusivity, the paper explains. Then there’s the possibility of changing government regulations, which is a theme in the presidential race. Of course, this could backfire and drug prices right up there with the cost of oil when inflation is discussed, because these price hikes inevitably are reflected in co-payments.

“Companies are under great pressure to deliver revenue, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to do so as generics displace profitable brands,” Bill Little, Delta Marketing’s president, tells the Journal. “I think drug companies, by and large, are in a survival mode.”

Read more »