This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts before the holiday week. Click here to see the original post and comments from April 2018.
You can also reach this post at www.GrossToNetBubble.com. 😉
In 2017, the gross-to-net bubble—the ever-growing pile of money between a manufacturer’s list price for a drug and the net price after rebates and other reductions—hit a new high.
Based on new data from IQVIA, manufacturers of brand-name drugs in 2017 reduced list price revenues by an astonishing $153 billion. Those reductions came primarily from rebates, discounts, and other payments to the drug channel. That figure has grown by 10% from the 2016 figure, even though net prices for brand-name drugs grew by only 1.9%.
We can no longer ignore the warped incentives created by our bubble buddy. As regular readers know, I think plan sponsors and insurers should be more transparent about what they do with the billions collected via pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from manufacturers—or even be forced to pass through these rebates to point of sale. Read on and let me know what you think.
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