Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC) Increase Report Data – Cumulative
In Q1 2024, prescription drugs with a WAC between $1,000 and $10,000 saw their lowest median cumulative WAC percent increase since reporting to HCAI began in 2019 (18.9%).
HCAI collects and publishes information on prescription drugs when a Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC) increase exceeds two thresholds – the WAC (after the increase) is greater than $40 for a course of therapy, and the WAC increase results in a greater than 16% cumulative increase inclusive of all WAC increases in the current calendar year and the two previous calendar years.
The visualizations below include submitted WAC increase data from Q1 2019 through Q4 2024. The visualizations display data that shows Median Cumulative WAC Percent Increase for the number of reports received in each quarter. The visualizations allow you to filter through the data by WAC Price Category and Drug Source Type. Since reporting began, prescription drugs with a WAC between $1,000.01 and $10,000 have seen the least fluctuation in their reported median cumulative WAC percent increases quarter over quarter.
- Learn more about the Prescription Drug Cost Transparency Program
- View other Prescription Drug Cost Transparency Public Reports
Median Percent Increase – WAC Price Category
Key Findings
- Q1 2024 saw the lowest overall median cumulative WAC percent increase since reporting to HCAI began in 2019 (19.1%).
- In Q1 2024, prescription drugs with a WAC between $1,000 and $10,000 saw their lowest median cumulative WAC percent increase since reporting to HCAI began in 2019 (18.9%).
- In Q1 2024, prescription drugs with a WAC between $250 and $1,000 saw their lowest median cumulative WAC percent increase since reporting to HCAI began in 2019 (18.7%).
Median Percent Increase – Drug Source Type
Key Findings
- Q1 2024 saw the lowest overall median cumulative WAC percent increase since reporting to HCAI began in 2019 (19.1%).
- In Q1 2024, Single Source Drugs saw their lowest median cumulative WAC percent increase since reporting to HCAI began in 2019 (19.1%).
- Across all reporting years, Quarter 1 of each year continues to see the most WAC increase reports: 1,066 reports in Q1 2019, 933 reports in Q1 2020, 808 reports in Q1 2021, 672 reports in Q1 2022, 1,021 reports in Q1 2023, and 1,084 reports in Q1 2024.
How HCAI Created This Product
Prescription Drug WAC Increase data for 2024 from the Cost Transparency Prescription Drug Program (CTRx).
Note: Reported increases that do not meet the statutory requirements for reporting and prescription drugs that do not meet the definition for reporting under the program regulations and Section 321(g) of Title 21 of the United States Code were not included in the visualizations. Reports not meeting statutory requirements were: 53 of 1,416 (3.7%) in 2019; 37 of 1,252 (2.9%) in 2020; 42 of 1,048 (4.0%) in 2021; 66 of 1,176 reports (5.6%) in 2022; 38 of 1,551 reports (2.5%) in 2023; and 99 of 1,631 reports (6.1%) in 2024. In addition, approximately 59.3% of reports from 2019 through 2024 did not include any reason(s) for the reported WAC increases due to the information not already being in the public domain.
Resources
Note:
- The 3-year median percent increase is based on submitted WAC increase data. The dataset is subject to reporting.
- The dataset includes only complete reports submitted by manufacturers for WAC increases made in Q1 2019 through Q4 2024, not including reports that do not meet the specified minimum thresholds for reporting.
- Manufacturers can submit late reports; WAC increase reports submitted after April 9th, 2025, are not included in the data.
Additional Information
Topic: Cost Transparency
Source Link: Cost Transparency – Prescription Drug (Rx) Costs
Citation: HCAI – Prescription Drug Cost Transparency, Cumulative 2019 – 2024
Temporal Coverage: 2019 – 2024
Spatial/Geographic Coverage: Statewide
Frequency: Annually