CWCI: High-Cost Drugs Drive Spending on Anti-Inflammatories

The anti-inflammatory fenoprofen calcium accounted for 0.5% of all prescriptions in 2021 but more than 8% of all drug payments that year, according to a new report by the California Workers’ Compensation Institute. CWCI, in the first of a three-part series on low-volume, high-cost drugs that have become cost drivers by consuming a disproportionate share of payments, cited fenoprofen calcium and ketoprofen as medications responsible for keeping anti-inflammatories at the top of the list in terms of total drug spend in the state’s comp system. Ibuprofen and naproxen combined to acc...