Is Anyone Surprised About This? Anyone?

Some days I feel like a broken record. Or for you kids out there, an Ipod that keeps playing a tiny part of an audio file over and over. From the New Jersey Star-Ledger:

WASHINGTON -- The makers of 193 brand-name drugs most commonly used by older Americans raised their prices on average 6.3 percent during the 12 months ending in June, outpacing the 3.8 percent inflation rate for the period, according to a survey conducted by AARP.

If we go to the AARP report, we'll see that this is nothing new. Since 2000, the general rate of inflation has been exactly 20%. Brand name drug prices have gone up during the same time period by 41.3%, more than twice the rate of general inflation. How does Big Pharma justify this? They accuse the AARP of lying without providing any proof, then try a bit of razzle dazzle to make you believe their accusation. Back to the Star-Ledger:

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the trade group for the big brand-name drug makers, said "AARP's allegations about pharmaceutical inflation are inaccurate."

There's the accusation of lying, and here's how they back it up:

PhRMA Vice President Ken Johnson said other studies have shown prescription drug price hikes have been in line with overall medical inflation since 2003.

"Wow", some of you might be saying, "it really does look like AARP is full of crap." Others of you might have caught the razzle-dazzle wordplay that is supposed to mislead you. It's one word in the above quote, "medical." Ken Johnson pulled it out of his ass to throw you off the "we're ripping you off" trail. The AARP is comparing drug prices to the overall rate of inflation. Ken Johnson says they are inaccurate by comparing drug prices to medical inflation. Ken Johnson either:

1) Is too dumb to know the difference between overall and medical inflation, or

2) Was hoping you wouldn't notice how he tried to back up his accusation of AARP lies by being misleading himself.

I called the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America at (202) 835-3460 to try and find out which one it was. I got a recording of a nice-sounding lady who invited me to leave a message. She also promised to return my call. She never did. So not only do they lie about other groups being liars, they're kinda rude.

Just in case you think these price increases are necessary to fund all that complicated research Big Pharma does, I'll throw in two more things:

Separately, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and a group of Democrats released a report that found profits for the 10 largest pharmaceutical companies jumped more than $8 billion during the first half of 2006, a 27 percent increase.

Seems like the extra money is flowing right into the bottom line, because new drugs aren't happening. Twenty drugs were cleared by the Food & Drug Administration last year, down from 53 a decade ago.

Paying more, getting less. It's a wonderful Big Pharma type of world.