Brand name drug companies are responsible for setting the prices of the prescription drugs in their portfolios. To maximize profits, at the expense of patients, taxpayers and the U.S. health care system, Big Pharma repeatedly hikes prices on existing products and sets increasingly outrageous launch prices on new medications.

Price-gouging, which leads to as many as one-in-two Americans experiencing financial hardship in affording prescription drugs, is enabled by Big Pharma’s egregious anti-competitive practices designed to extend monopolies and block patients from accessing more affordable alternatives, like generics and biosimilars.