WaveData’s Head of Data, Natalie Fancourt, alerted us to the huge price spikes on Apixaban 5mg 56. Charles Joynson, WaveData MD, decided to investigate the longer term view of both the Generic and Brand.
The 5mg 56 pack is the most commonly used of the six packs of Apixaban available.
The first graph shows the long-term average price history, and a number of things need to be pointed out. There was a drop in the Eliquis PI and UK pack prices in 2016. This was due to a drop in the Drug Tariff and the branded product reimbursement price from £61.50 to £53.20 in April 2016, shown on the second graph. There was a slight overshoot when both PI and UK packs dropped to below £50.00, but they soon recovered to a competitive stability point of about £53.00 and stayed more or less at this level until generics appeared on the scene in May 2022.
For a brief period of four months prices actually rose while the market was dominated by one generic manufacturer, after which others came into the market and prices fell rapidly from the £53.00 level down as low as £1.46 by June 2024. Noticeably both the UK and PI packs of Eliquis Tabs also fell, but nothing like as far as the generic. The PI fell to a low of £41.77 in June 2024, and the UK pack to £31.58 in May 2024. Both have since seen price rises.
The generic product’s price drop was so rapid that prices fell below the level at which manufacturers could sustainably make a profit (probably about £2.00 in this case). This trigger point is the price at which manufacturers withdraw, triggering price rises, concessions and shortages. Consequently in August 2024 prices started rising again, reaching an average of £17.02 in September 2024. Concessions were announced by the department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in July and August but not in September. The first indications of October pricing are between £7.25 and £13.89, which suggests that the price may have reached its peak.
We’ll see if this is true in the coming weeks.
Apixaban Pricing History
Apixaban Drug Tariff History