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Price-Gougers Hike Costs Of Vital Drugs During Shortage

08/17/2011 8:18 am 0 comments

Amid growing shortages of life-saving drugs, some back-door suppliers are capitalizing on the problem, jacking up prices for medications for cancer, high blood pressure and other serious problems by as much as 4,500 percent, a new hospital survey shows.

So-called “gray market” medical suppliers — vendors who operate through unofficial channels — inflated prices by an average of 650 percent on drugs that were either back-ordered or completely unavailable. They included widely used but hard-to-get drugs aimed at fighting cancer, ensuring sedation during surgery or treating patients who need emergency care.

That’s according to new research by Premier, a North Carolina-based alliance of 2,500 hospitals and 73,000 other health care sites in the United States. During a two-week period earlier this year, 42 of Premier’s acute care hospitals reported receiving 1,745 unsolicited offers from drug suppliers proffering vital medications that are in short supply.

Of the drugs offered by 18 gray market providers, 96 percent were double the normal price, 45 percent were 100 times the normal price and 27 percent were at least 20 times the normal price, Premier found.

To read this article in its entirety visit MSNBC.

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