Kaitlyn D’Onofrio

DocwireNews

Two for the price of one may not apply to certain medications, a new study has found.&nbsp;Researchers analyzed&nbsp;the&nbsp;1,500 medications&nbsp;that accounted for the highest total spending of Medicare Part D drugs in 2015,&nbsp;including 29 brand-name combination pills that have generic alternatives available.&nbsp;For 2016, they estimated that using the generic versions of the 29 combo drugs&nbsp;for the&nbsp;same&nbsp;number of&nbsp;doses&nbsp;would have saved&nbsp;the Medicare drug benefit program&nbsp;$925 million.&nbsp;Over the course of the whole study, had the top 10 most expensive combo drugs been replaced by their generic constituents, Medicare spending could have been about $2.7 billion lower.&nbsp;<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This study estimates that the additional cost to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Medicare?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Medicare</a> when physicians prescribe brand-name combination medications instead of generic constituents was USD 925 million between 2011 and 2016. <a href="https://t.co/sasJKsaB7X">https://t.co/sasJKsaB7X</a>
&mdash; JAMA (@JAMA_current) <a href="https://twitter.com/JAMA_current/status/1031979248775585793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2018</a>
</blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>&ldquo;These brand-name combination pills cost far more than sum of their parts,&rdquo; study leader Dr. Chana Sacks&nbsp;told Reuters by email.&nbsp;&ldquo;The price of brand-name combination drugs, like all medications in the U.S., are not determined based on the magnitude of the clinical benefit or the costs of research and development; rather prices are set by the manufacturer based on what the market will bear.&rdquo;&nbsp;Researchers divided the 29 brand-name drugs with generics options available into three categories: one&nbsp;with generic options available in&nbsp;identical doses (n&thinsp;=&thinsp;20),&nbsp;ones with&nbsp;generic constituents at different doses (n&thinsp;=&thinsp;3), and&nbsp;ones with&nbsp;therapeutically equivalent generic substitutes (n&thinsp;=&thinsp;6).&nbsp;<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
JUST RELEASED: Our new data note examines the latest data and trends in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Medicare?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Medicare</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PartD?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PartD</a> drug benefit&rsquo;s &ldquo;donut hole,&rdquo; the coverage gap in which enrollees must pay a greater share of their prescription drug costs. <a href="https://t.co/gR4DwNCrFO">https://t.co/gR4DwNCrFO</a> <a href="https://t.co/rdBSs7SsA2">pic.twitter.com/rdBSs7SsA2</a>
&mdash; KFF (@KFF) <a href="https://twitter.com/KFF/status/1031889985954304000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2018</a>
</blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>According to the research, 2016 Medicare spending totaled $303 million for brand-name combination drugs. If their generic versions with identical doses were prescribed instead, that cost would have been about $68 million.&nbsp;Also&nbsp;in 2016, brand-name combo pills that cost Medicare $232 would have totaled $13 million if people opted for generic versions of the drugs at different doses. For medications with therapeutically equivalent generic substitutes available, Medicare spent $491 million as opposed to $20 million had the generic versions been purchased.&nbsp;&ldquo;Promoting generic substitution and therapeutic interchange through prescriber education and more rational substitution policies may offer important opportunities to achieve substantial savings in the Medicare drug benefit program,&rdquo; the researchers stated.&nbsp;<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2697695">Read the Original Article at JAMA Here</a>Sources:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medpagetoday.com/pediatrics/preventivecare/74683">JAMA</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/22/health/coconut-oil-pure-poison/index.html">Reuters</a>&nbsp;

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Two for the price of one may not apply to certain medications, a new study has found.  ...

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