ICER's 2023 report highlights five drugs with unsupported price increases, leading to $815 million in excess costs for U.S. payers. Discover key findings and trends.

Price increases for five of the 10 drugs that contributed the most to a rise in U.S. medical spending in 2023 were not supported by clinical evidence and drove costs higher by $815 million, an influential drug pricing watchdog said on Thursday.

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review flagged five drugs whose prices were raised in 2023 with no evidence to support it. Meanwhile, the makers of these drugs have been reporting double-digit sales growth for many of these products.

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review has identified five drugs — Biktarvy, Darzalex, Entresto, Cabometyx, and Xeljanz — with prices increases that are not supported by new clinical evidence,

A review found half of the drugs studied had price increases based on new evidence of benefits, while the other half did not.

Funding for expensive new drugs in England over the last two decades would have been better spent elsewhere in the NHS, according to a new study. The report published in The Lancet on Thursday evening found that the rollout of such drugs had come at a “heavy cost to the health of many others” as the cost was diverting resources from other kinds of healthcare that would have helped more patients.