DRUGMAKERS including Pfizer Inc , Sanofi SA, and GlaxoSmithKline Plc plan to raise prices on more than 300 drugs in the United States on Jan. 1, according to drugmakers and data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors.
The hikes come as drugmakers are reeling from effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reduced doctor visits and demand for some drugs. They are also fighting new drug price cutting rules from the Trump administration, which would reduce the industry’s profitability.
The companies kept their price increases at 10 percent or below, and the largest drug companies to raise prices so far, Pfizer and Sanofi, kept nearly all of their increases five percent or less, 3 Axis said. 3 Axis is a consulting firm that works with pharmacists groups, health plans and foundation on drug pricing and supply chain issues.
In 2020, drugmakers raised prices on more than 860 drugs by around five percent, on average, according to 3 Axis. Drug price increases have slowed substantially since 2015, both in terms of the size of the hikes and the number of drugs affected.
The increases come as pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer are playing hero by developing vaccines for COVID-19 in record time. The hikes could help make up for lost revenue as doctors visits and new prescriptions plummeted during the global lockdown.
Pfizer plans to raise prices on more than 60 drugs by between 0.5 percent and five percent. Those include roughly five percent increases on some of its top sellers like rheumatoid arthritis treatment Xeljanz and cancer drugs Ibrance and Inlyta.
Pfizer said it had adjusted the list prices of its drugs by around 1.3 percent across all products in its portfolio, in line with inflation.
“This modest increase is necessary to support investments that allow us to continue to discover new medicines and deliver those breakthroughs to the patients who need them,” spokeswoman Amy Rose said in a statement, pointing in particular to the COVID-19 vaccine the company developed with Germany’s BioNTech SE.
It said that its net prices, which back out rebates to pharmacy benefit managers and other discounts, have actually fallen for the last three years.
France’s Sanofi plans to increase prices on a number of vaccines five percent or less and will announce more price increases later in January, spokesperson Ashleigh Koss said.
None of the company’s price increases will be above the expected growth rate of US health spending of 5.1 percent, she said. (Reuters)
