SILVER SPRING, Md. — Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh wants to hear from residents who have seen the price of their generic prescription drugs go up — in some cases, way up.
Frosh joined lawmakers and health care professionals at a news conference Tuesday to tout the state’s new anti-price gouging law that targets generic prescription drugs. He encouraged residents to detail their experiences on the website Hear My Story.
Frosh explained the new law went into effect Oct. 1. “Just before it did, the pharmaceutical industry sued us and said that this measure is unconstitutional.” Frosh said the case is now being appealed, but added in the meantime, his office wants to hear from consumers who may be potential victims of price gouging.
At Tuesday’s event at Riderwood Village, a senior living community in Silver Spring, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker offered his own experience of seeing the price of generic drugs jump. Baker’s wife, Christa, was diagnosed with early-onset dementia at the age of 48 in 2010. Baker told the audience his wife is now on several medications “for life—that will never change.”
He needed to refill a prescription recently and was told there was a problem with authorizing the prescription through his insurance at the time. Baker said he told the pharmacist the prescription had to be refilled.
“It was a seizure medicine, and I’m guaranteed if she doesn’t have it she’ll have another seizure and we’ll be back in the emergency room,” Baker said. He was told he’d have to pay full price, and agreed to do that.
Baker said he was stunned to find the cost of the drug had gone from less than $100 to $300. Baker told the crowd, “I have some of the best insurance in the world as county executive. I have access to some of the best doctors. I have resources.” But he urged listeners to think about a person who can’t afford $300, and further, to wonder why a generic drug already out on the market would go up by that much—even over a period of years.
State health officials have been concerned about the prices of several medications that they say are critically important to patients. The attorney general’s office says the price of Naloxone, the medication used to treat opioid overdoses, skyrocketed by 533 percent between October 2013 and April 2014. EpiPens, which can save lives for those who suffer life-threatening allergic reactions, have gone up in price by 503 percent in the same time period.
The Association for Accessible Medicines has sued the state over the new law, claiming it’s unconstitutional and violates the interstate commerce law. Further, the suit alleges the law is vague and reduced consumers’ choice in medications. A lower court judge dismissed a large chunk of the case, which was then promptly appealed and is currently pending, Frosh said.
Dr. Steve Rockower, the past president of Med-Chi, the Maryland State Medical Society, told Tuesday’s crowd that having laws to keep down the prices of generic medications “is vitally important.”
He added, “I don’t know from laws; I don’t take care of legislation—I take care of patients. When patients are not taking their medicines because they can’t afford them, I can’t do my job.”
