Limited Drug Competition Is a Prescription for Extreme Price Increases

Given that pharmaceutical companies have been accused of hiking drug prices ahead of the passage of health care reform, perhaps nobody will be surprised to learn that the industry has a history of passing big price bumps on to their customers. Even so, the magnitude will no doubt raise an eyebrow or two: The Government Accountability Office has found that between 2000 and 2008, the prices for 321 different brand-name drugs soared from 100% to more than 2,000%.