Drug companies are quietly pushing through price hikes ranging from 100 percent to more than 1,000 percent for a small but growing number of prescription drugs, driving up costs for insurers, patients and government programs.
Questcor Pharmaceuticals has raised the wholesale price on Acthar, which treats spasms in babies, from about $1,650 a vial to more than $23,000. Ovation raised the cost of Cosmegen, which treats a type of tumor, from $16.79 to $593.75.
The average wholesale price of 26 brand-name drugs jumped 100 percent or more in a single cost adjustment last year.