CSRxP: BIG PHARMA HIKES PRICES ON NEARLY 250 PRESCRIPTION DRUGS IN LATEST ROUND OF MID-YEAR PRICE HIKES

Brand Name Drug Companies Maintain Business-as-Usual Approach to Price-Gouging American Patients with Price Increases Outpacing Inflation

Washington, D.C. – This summer, Big Pharma is at it yet again — increasing list prices on nearly 250 prescription drugs since June as part of the industry’s longstanding tradition of biannual price hikes.

“Big Pharma routinely hikes prices on blockbuster brand name drugs to boost profits at the expense of American patients and taxpayers,” said CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson. “Big Pharma’s egregious pricing practices, including price hikes on older blockbuster products that should face competition in the marketplace, are enabled by exploiting loopholes to game the system and extend monopolies.”

“Big Pharma’s latest round of price hikes underscores the urgency for policymakers in Washington to foster greater competition from more affordable options for consumers, like generics and biosimilars, and hold brand name drug companies accountable for anti-competitive practices that keep drug prices high,” Aronson continued.

Brand name drug companies increased prices on 28 prescription drugs in June, 216 in July and four in August, for a total of 248 mid-year price increases. So far this year, Big Pharma has increased prices on a total of 1,284 brand name drugs, with a median price increase of 3.7 percent, outpacing the most recent monthly inflation rate of 3.4 percent. In July alone, weekly median price increases reached as high as six percent.

Big Pharma giants hiking prices in this latest round include Pfizer on 17 drugs, Novartis on 14, Roche on seven, and GSK and AstraZeneca on six each.

Read more on Big Pharma’s egregious pricing practices HERE.

Read more about Big Pharma’s January price hikes earlier this year HERE.

Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.