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Prices for the 10 most critical drugs to treat COVID-19 have
risen a highly unusual 4 percent globally during the crisis. The
cost for over half of these essential COVID-19 medicines rose
across 80 countries between February and June 2020. Global price
increases were led by diazepam and azithromycin, which increased by
16% and 6.5%, respectively.
Normally, price increases for pharmaceuticals around the world
are relatively rare outside of the United States, but our findings
indicate that 24 countries showed price increases for drugs
critical for COVID-19 treatment, with many of them on a scale we
have not seen before.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant disruptions to
normal supply chains as well as cost increases for local raw
materials which has hit smaller markets particularly hard
Prices of critical pharmaceuticals are increasing at a time that
they are needed the most, and at a time when governments will
potentially struggle to pay for them as they seek to support their
economy elsewhere
Some smaller countries were hit with substantial price
increases. Price hikes for versions of the 10 drugs in Denmark, for
example, averaged at 71.6%. In the Netherlands and Sweden, they
averaged at 43.1% and 37.5%, respectively. The United Kingdom had
price increases of up to 49%, mainly for azithromycin.
The United States itself only showed one price increase - for
one version of dexamethasone - and instead showed substantial price
decreases for some versions of azithromycin, ciclosporin and
ipratropium bromide.
The largest price increase was for dexamethasone, the only
existing treatment to have shown increased survival data, which
rose nearly three-fold in the Netherlands (+ 277%). Diazepam prices
increased in Lithuania (+167%), Denmark (+128%), Canada (114%), New
Zealand (+100%) and United Arab Emirates (100%). Denmark saw
increases of azithromycin by two manufactures, with prices up by
142% and 109%, respectively. Prices of azithromycin increased in
Czech Republic by 114%.
IHS Markit analyzed price changes for 10 critical treatments for
COVID-19 globally from its pharmaceutical pricing database
PharmOnline International (POLI): anakinra, azithromycin,
ciclosporin, cisatracurium, clonazepam, dexamethasone,
dexmedetomidine, diazepam, enoxpararin and ipratropium bromide -
taking into account over 470 different products of these drugs. The
list does not include experimental treatments such as remdesivir,
which does not have a price or price movement in most markets.
Posted 08 July 2020 by Gustav Ando, Vice President, Industry Services & Life Sciences, IHS Markit
