Soaring Cost of Diabetes Drugs

By Lindsay Braun, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New cases of diabetes are on the rise in the United States and so is the cost of treating them.

According to a new study done at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of Chicago the annual cost of prescription diabetes drugs nearly doubled between 2001 and 2007, reaching $12.5 billion.

This finding raising the question, are higher costs associated with improved care and better outcomes? Dr. Stuart Weiss, an endocrinologist at NYU Langone Medical Center doesn’t think so. He told Ivanhoe, “Diet and exercise are the cheapest approach but the least well used.”

Study authors point out that FDA approval does not require that a drug be compared against alternative treatments, only that it’s safe and better than a placebo. There is no requirement that a drug’s effectiveness justify its price. New drugs like exenatide (Byetta) cost $210 per prescription, eight to 11 times more than older generic drugs like metform or glipizide.

“Just because a drug is new or exploits a new mechanism does not mean that it adds clinically to treating particular diseases,” he said. “And even if a new drug does have a benefit, it’s important to consider whether that benefit is in proportion to the increased cost of new therapies,” Randall Stafford, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and senior author of the study, was quoted as saying.

More intensive diabetes screening techniques and physicians diagnosing milder cases of diabetes may also play a role in the rising costs of diabetes treatment, according to study authors.

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, Oct. 27, 2008