Drug Prices to Get More Expensive -- Corporate Outlook

"If anything, 2015 list prices will grow more quickly than in 2014," said Richard Evans, a former drug-industry pricing official now an analyst at SSR Health LLC.

The $1,000-a-day price of a new hepatitis C pill has put more attention on the rising cost of drugs.

Yet the hefty price tags of new medicines like Sovaldi from Gilead Sciences Inc., weren't the only culprit in higher drug costs, according to drug-industry analysts. Price increases on older drugs played a big part, too--and the costs are expected to keep soaring.

Brand-name drug prices surged 14% in the 12 months through the end of the third quarter in 2014, adding $32 billion to drug spending, said Elliot Wilbur, a Needham & Co. analyst. Generic drugs, which are supposed to be an instrument for cutting drug spending, have also increased.

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