A report from the Observatory of Health Costs of the Argentine Health Union (UAS) detected increases of up to 50% in medicines during the second quarter of the year, doubling the general inflation which in that period reached 24.8%.
Therefore, the entity that brings together prepaid medicine companies warned about the economic impact that those drugs that reach millionaire figures for each treatment have on the private system.
In this sense, he pointed out that “strong increases in drug prices were detected during the second quarter of 2022, with a notable acceleration compared to the previous period.”
“There were spikes of up to 50% in supplies for hospitalizationsand also rises above inflation in high-cost remedies that can generate millionaire expenses for social works and prepayments for each treatment, “said the agency.
When measuring the prices of medicines, it was found that those that are usually used for hospitalizations had the highest increases, reaching 32% on average.
When measuring the prices of medicines, it was found that those that are usually used for hospitalizations had the highest increases, reaching 32% on average during the four-month period May-August of this year.
This figure was above the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measured by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec), which in the same period was 24.8%.
Some products showed even more striking peaks: serums became 50% more expensive and contrast products 45%.
Disposables -a key input in the sector- were just below the average, but still exceeded inflation, since they had an increase of 27%.
In the first four months of the year, hospitalization inputs had risen 14% on average, for which in the subsequent period the increase was more than double.
The survey of the UAS pointed out that in the May-August four-month period there were also significant increases in so-called high-cost medicines, which can be worth millions of pesos and that often must be covered by prepaid and social works as a result of judicial rulings.
They also had an average increase of 32% as of August this year, while in the first quarter there were increases of 18.50% on average.
In 2010 these drugs accounted for 8% of total drug spending, while today that proportion has increased to 62%, according to industry estimates.
Two of the most significant gains were seen in the cancer medication Herceptin, which rose 54.44% to $279,125; and Genvoya, a drug for HIV that reached 121,000 after climbing 35.15%.
They also increased the Hemlibra for hemophilia by 23.50% and it already exceeds $3 million; Genotropin for growth retardation, 27.50% and now costs $124,902; and Decapeptyl for prostate cancer 26.41% to reach $141,834.
