Brand Name Drug Companies Continue Seeking to Price-Gouge COVID-19 Treatments and Vaccines Ahead of Transition to Commercial Market
Washington, D.C. – The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) released a statement Monday in response to reports that Moderna plans to hike the price of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine from $26.36 to as much as $130 per dose as payment shifts from the U.S. Government to the private market.
“Moderna’s decision to hike the price of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine by nearly 500 percent as payment shifts to the private market is a brazen demonstration of Big Pharma’s greed,” said CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson. “Moderna is just the latest of several Big Pharma companies seeking to price-gouge COVID-19 treatments and vaccines as payment for these critical medications transitions from the federal government to the private market.”
“Big Pharma’s eagerness to profiteer off of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, including those developed with substantial investment from taxpayers, demonstrates yet again why policymakers must focus on holding the pharmaceutical industry accountable to lower drug prices,” Aronson added. “Lawmakers should demand Big Pharma companies engaging in price hikes on COVID-19 treatments and vaccines ahead of commercial distribution face scrutiny from Congress.”
Moderna is not the only Big Pharma giant looking to squeeze additional profits out of COVID-19 products through price increases ahead of commercial distribution.
In October, Big Pharma giant Pfizer also announced plans to “as much as quadruple” the price of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine – to a price that represents a “10,000 percent markup over what experts have estimated it costs the vaccine makers to produce the shots.”
And in August, Eli Lilly hiked the price of its monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19 ahead of a transition to the commercial market.
Read more about Big Pharma’s year of bad behavior in 2022, including hiking prices on COVID-19 treatments and vaccines ahead of commercial distribution, HERE.
Learn more about bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.