CSRxP Launches “No Price Hikes” Campaign Urging Big Pharma To Suspend Summer Price Hikes

Drug Companies Must Forgo Mid-Year Price Increases While Millions of Americans Grapple With Historic Economic Uncertainty

Washington, D.C. – The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) announced Tuesday the launch of a campaign encouraging Big Pharma companies to suspend traditional mid-year price hikes while millions of Americans grapple with economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

“Before COVID-19, more than 58 million Americans struggled to afford their prescription drugs and now the economic impact of the pandemic has left millions more American workers, families and seniors struggling just to stay afloat,” said CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson. “Too many Americans were already unable to afford their medications and resorting to dangerous measures like rationing — before the historic economic uncertainty of the current crisis.”

“Like clockwork, Big Pharma raises prescription drug prices in two large batches every year. Drug companies already hiked prices on hundreds of medications in January and, last summer, Big Pharma increased prices by an average of more than 13 percent,” Aronson continued. “During these challenging times, Big Pharma companies should put people before profits and suspend summer price hikes that would increase financial strain and health care uncertainty for millions of American patients and families in the midst of a historic crisis.”

See CSRxP’s petition to tell Big Pharma Americans need relief, not price hikes, HERE.

Watch CSRxP’s new digital ad, “Price Hikes,” that will run as part of the campaign HERE.

Every year, Big Pharma companies reliably hike prices in two large batches — at the start of the year and mid-year in early summer:

• January 2020: Big Pharma rang in the new year by hiking prescription drug prices on more than 600 drugs by an average of 5.2 percent.
• July 2019: Last July, Big Pharma raised prescription drug prices on 104 drugs by an average of 13.1 percent.
• Over Five Years: Over five years, Big Pharma has raised the price of brand name drugs at 10 times the rate of inflation.

Big Pharma routinely tries to justify drug price hikes by pointing to research and development (R&D). The fact of the matter is:

Big Pharma is busting profit and revenue expectations and receiving billions of dollars in research funding from taxpayers while millions of Americans are struggling — these companies must suspend traditional summer price hikes now. Learn More.