Price of skin treatments skyrocketing

Two of the most extreme examples found in a study are sold by Valeant Pharma

WASHINGTON — The cost of prescription skin treatments has skyrocketed since 2009, as the burden of escalating drug prices increasingly weighs on family budgets.

Retail prices have surged 401 percent since 2009 for brandname drugs for skin conditions, according to research published by Dr. Steven Rosenberg, a dermatologist, and his daughter, Miranda Rosenberg, in JAMA Dermatology, a medical journal. That compares to an overall inflation rate of just 11 percent in the same period.

Of the 19 brand-name drugs analyzed in the study published Wednesday, price hikes have been most extreme for two drugs made by Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors for documents tied to its pricing and practices. It is also under investigation by several members of Congress.

Costs for Valeant’s Targretin gel skin cancer treatment have shot up 18-fold over the past six years to $30,320 per 60 gram tube. Prices for a separate Valeant skin cancer cream, Carac, surged 18 times to $2,865 for a 30 gram tube.

But the study found that dramatic price hikes are common across the pharmaceutical industry. Prices for generic skin treatment drugs climbed 279 percent between 2011 and 2014.

Health insurers increasingly pass those costs onto patients, the study noted.