There has been significant volatility in the Producer Price Index Table 9 PPI Commodity Code 0638-0202RX Analgesics, prescription category. There was a 28% one-month increase in February 2014, and a 26% increase in March ’14. In May 2014, the prescription analgesics PPI Table 9 category reported a 21% one-month decrease. A graph of the PPI Table 9 prescription analgesics month-month percentage changes in price indexes over the last 18 months is shown below:
LIFO-PRO contacted the Producer Price Index division of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics regarding the recent erratic behavior in the prices of prescription analgesic items. The PPI division of the BLS responded to our inquiry and stated, “The formulations for prescription analgesics are regulated, and over the past couple years there have been some mandated changes to the formulations for various prescription analgesics. As a result, there have been occasions when implementing these changes in ingredients and components resulted in production delays and inadequate supply to market, leading to higher pricesâ€.
When visiting the FDA’s website for listings of current drug shortages, LIFO-PRO discovered there were in fact supply and demand fluctuations for several different prescription analgesic items. Shortages are currently being reported for Fentanyl Citrate, Ketorolac Tromethamine and Sufentanil Citrate, which are all classified as prescription analgesic items. Reasons for the shortages included increased demand for the above items, manufacturing delays and shipment delays. Shown below is the raw historical index for prescription analgesics, not seasonally adjusted:
Bob Richardson
LIFO-PRO, Inc.