Big Pharma Giant Increases Paxlovid Price Weeks After Making Price Hike on COVID-19 Vaccine Official
In case you missed it, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Pfizer will impose a massive price hike on the Big Pharma giant’s brand name COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid as payment shifts from the federal government to the commercial market.
According to the report, the list price once the drug hits the commercial market is expected to be $1,390 per course – nearly triple the $529 price that the U.S. government paid per course.
The price increase on Paxlovid comes on the heels of Pfizer and fellow drug maker Moderna announcing that list prices for their COVID-19 vaccines would be between $120 and $130 per dose for the commercial market — substantial increases from their previous price points. Both companies moved forward with price increases on their COVID-19 vaccines despite widespread criticism, especially from lawmakers on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) over the Moderna price increase on a drug developed with massive investments from taxpayers.
In July, U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra penned a letter to brand name drug makers, urging them to price COVID-19 vaccines and treatments entering the commercial market at “a reasonable rate.”
Pfizer’s price increase on Paxlovid is just the latest example of Big Pharma seeking to profit by hiking prices on existing products, imposing higher costs on patients and the U.S. health care system.
Read the full story from The Wall Street Journal HERE.
Read more on Big Pharma’s COVID-19 vaccine price hikes after massive taxpayer spending on developing and acquiring the vaccines HERE.
Learn more about bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.