BIRDS OF A FEATHER: BIG PHARMA M&A SPLURGE BRINGS TOGETHER DRUG COMPANIES WITH SHARED TRACK RECORD OF PRICE HIKES OUTPACING INFLATION

Apr 14, 2026

Big Pharma Giants Acquire New Blockbuster Products with Existing History of Egregious Price Increases

Big Pharma’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) appetite is heating up — and much of that hunger seems to be for drug companies with existing brand name products on the market with their own history of price hikes. Brand name giants like Biogen, Sanofi, Merck and Johnson & Johnson, each with a demonstrated track record of egregious price hikes on blockbuster products, have acquired various pharmaceutical and biotech companies over the last several months that share a history of egregious pricing practices.

As they say, birds of a feather flock together. Get the facts on Biogen, Sanofi, Merck and Johnson & Johnson’s recent acquisitions, and these companies’ shared history of price hikes, below.

Biogen & Apellis Pharmaceuticals

This past month, in March, Biogen announced its acquisition of Apellis Pharmaceuticals for $5.6 billion. In a press release announcing the acquisition, the key products propelling this merger include Apellis Pharmaceuticals’ eye injection SYFOVRE and blood disease drug EMPAVELI. Apellis has a history of increasing prices on these two products at rates outpacing inflation.

Biogen has its own history of price gouging. Back in 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Biogen’s Alzheimer’s treatment, Aduhelm, with a massive list price of $56,000 for annual treatment on the drug. After receiving broad backlash from patients, lawmakers, drug pricing advocates and medical experts, Biogen slashed the price of the drug in half. Despite this, Biogen’s reduced price tag for Aduhelm was still approximately three to 10 times greater than what an Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) report concluded would be a fair price for the treatment. Aduhelm was later cited by Medicare officials as being largely responsible for a significant increase in seniors’ Medicare Part B premiums for 2022, due to the drug’s staggering price tag.

Sanofi Acquires Dynavax Technologies & Blueprint Medicines

Sanofi acquired Dynavax Technologies in February 2025 and Blueprint Medicines in July 2025. In press releases from Sanofi in December 2025 and June 2025, the main drivers of these transactions were Dynavax’s adult hepatitis B vaccine, HEPLISAV-B, and Blue Medicine’s rare immunology disease medicine, AYVAKIT.

Dynavax Technologies, which Sanofi acquired last year, has a history of increasing the price of their hepatitis B vaccine, HEPLISAB-B, by more than four percent each year since 2020, significantly outpacing inflation.

  • Dynavax increased the price of HEPLISAB-B by 4.8 percent in 2020.
  • Dynavax increased the price of HEPLISAB-B by five percent in 2021.
  • Dynavax increased the price of HEPLISAB-B by 5.5 percent in 2022.
  • Dynavax increased the price of HEPLISAB-B by 5.4 percent in 2023.
  • Dynavax increased the price of HEPLISAB-B by five percent in 2024.
  • Dynavax increased the price of HEPLISAB-B by 5.5 percent in 2025.
  • Dynavax increased the price of HEPLISAB-B by six percent in 2026.

Sanofi also acquired Blueprint Medicines last July. The company has increased the price of its systemic mastocytosis drug each year by roughly five percent since 2021.

  • Blueprint increased the price of AYVAKIT by 4.9 percent in 2021.
  • Blueprint increased the price of AYVAKIT by 4.9 percent in 2022.
  • Blueprint increased the price of AYVAKIT by 5.4 percent in 2023.
  • Blueprint increased the price of AYVAKIT by 4.9 percent in 2024.
  • Blueprint increased the price of AYVAKIT by 4.9 percent in 2025.
  • Blueprint increased the price of AYVAKIT by 4.9 percent in 2026.

Sanofi has its own history of increasing prices across its portfolio:

Merck & SpringWorks Therapeutics

In April 2025, Merck acquired SpringWorks Therapeutics for $3.9 billion. According to coverage from Reuters, the driving force behind this deal is cancer drug, Ogsiveo.

Despite only being approved in 2023, SpringWorks has already targeted Ogsiveo with significant price increases:

  • SpringWorks increased the price of Ogsiveo by eight percent in 2025.
  • SpringWorks increased the price of Ogsiveo by six percent in 2026.

Merck is no stranger to price hikes and employing patent abuse tactics to block competition.

Merck’s blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda provides a case study in the scale of Big Pharma’s patent abuse greed. According to research from I-MAK, Merck has already filed for 129 patent applications on Keytruda – more than half of which were filed after the drug’s initial approval by the FDA. The Big Pharma company has been granted 53 patents for this one drug. I-MAK estimated that Americans would spend at least $137 billion on Keytruda while the drug faced no competition due to its extended exclusivity that now totals more than a decade – without reflecting the added impact of the latest leg of the Big Pharma giant’s patent strategy.

Merck first announced in December 2022 that it would seek a new subcutaneous formulation of Keytruda, along with accompanying new patents to bolster its existing, significantly extended patent thicket. On top of Merck’s attempts to further extend patent exclusivity on the current version of Keytruda, the drug maker secured FDA approval of a new version of the drug, called Keytruda Qlex, in September 2025. As coverage from The New York Times notes, Merck is following “a well-worn playbook…by develop[ing] a new version of the drug, given as a shot under the skin,” that will “keep Keytruda revenue flowing.” Merck expects “up to 40 percent of Keytruda users” to shift to Keytruda Qlex. “Merck’s new shot will most likely slow the adoption of cheaper copycat infusions, keeping prices higher for longer at the expense of Americans.”

Johnson & Johnson & Intra-Cellular Therapies

In January 2025, Johnson & Johnson acquired Intra-Cellular Therapies for $14.6 billion. AP reported that the leading contributor to this transaction was schizophrenia and depression drug Caplyta. Intra-Cellular Therapies has increased the price of the drug each year since 2021 – often at rates outpacing inflation.

  • Intra-Cellular increased the price of Caplyta by six percent in 2021.
  • Intra-Cellular increased the price of Caplyta by 5.9 percent in 2022.
  • Intra-Cellular increased the price of Caplyta by 5.9 percent, with two separate increases in 2023.
  • Intra-Cellular increased the price of Caplyta by 5.9 percent in 2024.
  • Intra-Cellular increased the price of Caplyta by 2.9 percent in 2025.
  • Intra-Cellular increased the price of Caplyta by five percent in 2026.

Johnson & Johnson has its own history of price increases:

  • Johnson & Johnson has hiked prices on 15 prescription drugs so far in 2026, including a five percent increase on psoriasis drug Stelara.
  • Johnson & Johnson hiked prices on 31 prescription drugs in 2025, including a 5.5 percent increase on multiple myeloma drug Darzalex and a 4.7 percent increase on psoriasis drug Stelara. 
  • Johnson & Johnson engaged in 35 price hikes in 2024, including a 6.3 percent increase on Darzalex, and a five percent increases on Erleada and Stelara.
  • According to a December 2024 ICER report, price hikes that were unsupported by new clinical evidence on the multiple myeloma drug Darzalex led to additional consumer spending of $190 million.
  • Johnson & Johnson also engaged in 36 price hikes in 2023, including a 4.5 percent increase on Darzalex, a five percent increase on Erleada and a four percent increase on Stelara.
  • Spending on the company’s blockbuster cancer drug Imbruvica is expected to exceed $41 billion between 2027 and 2036, thanks to an anti-competitive patent scheme that extended a monopoly on the high-priced cancer drug by more than nine years. Imbruvica costs an eye-popping $180,000 per year.

Learn more about how Big Pharma targets mergers and acquisitions to keep prices high, extend monopolies and boost profits HERE.

Learn more about bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.

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