The latest from DTC Perspectives

New Harvard Study Reveals DTC Increases Drug Cost to Medicaid

The study, examining the drug clopidogrel’s (Plavix) expenditure and sales before and after its use of DTC reveals that Medicaid expenditures increased while the prescription rate stayed the same. Thus, the study found that once Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis began the DTC campaign for the drug in 2002, the cost to Medicaid rose by $207 million, but the DTC did not inspire “any change in prescription trends,” MedPageToday reports.

According to The Boston Globe, the study discovered via pharmacy data from Medicaid programs in 27 states that the price of Plavix was increased 40 cents per pill, or by 12%, once the $350 million DTC campaign was launched ($350 mil. over the course of several years).  The study researchers believe the connection between the rising costs for the drug and the increased ad spend is “plausible.”

“If drug price increases after DTCA initiationare common, there are important implications for payers andfor policy makers in the United States and elsewhere,” the study concludes.

However, study researchers caution that their findings may simply be unique to Plavix and are not proof that DTC increases drug prices.

"Offsetting the costs of direct-to-consumer advertising may have been one of several potential motivations for the increase in per-unit cost of clopidogrel; other factors that might play a role in price setting include anticipating increased clopidogrel sales, concurrent changes in the sales of the manufacturers' other drugs, overall market conditions, and research and development costs for future products.”