CSRXP: BIG PHARMA INCREASES PRICES ON MORE THAN 100 BRAND NAME DRUGS IN LATEST PRICE HIKING BINGE

Jul 18, 2023

Brand Name Drug Companies Barrel Ahead with Business-As-Usual Approach to Price-Gouging Patients

Washington, D.C. – The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) issued a statement Tuesday reacting to a new round of price hikes from Big Pharma to start the month of July, as part of traditional biannual increases from the pharmaceutical industry. According to data from Analysource, so far this month, “59 manufacturers raise[d] prices on 105 brands.”

“Big Pharma continues to barrel ahead with a business-as-usual approach to price-gouging American patients while pointing fingers for out-of-control drug prices at everyone else in the supply chain,” said CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson. “Big Pharma’s egregious July price hikes highlight that drug companies alone set, and increase, prices on their products and underscore why Congress must focus on holding Big Pharma accountable to effectively lower prescription drug prices for patients.”

Big Pharma has a long history of hiking prices, oftentimes at rates above inflation, escalating the crisis of affordability for Americans who face financial uncertainty purchasing their medications and imposing heavy costs on taxpayers.

Biannual Price Hikes

At the start of 2023, Big Pharma increased prices on at least 587 brand name drugs over the first two weeks of the year. As part of January 2023 price increases, 16 brand name drug companies imposed price hikes higher than 10 percent.
In July 2022, Big Pharma increased prices on 108 brand name prescription drugs.
In January 2022, Big Pharma increased prices on 791 brand name prescription drugs.
In July 2021, Big Pharma hiked prices on 67 brand name prescription drugs.
In January 2021, Big Pharma raised the list price of 822 brand name prescription drugs.

Examples of Big Pharma price hikes so far this year include:

AbbVie hiked prices on two of their top-selling drugs, including perennial blockbuster Humira, used to treat a variety of autoimmune conditions, and Skyrizi, a treatment for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, both by eight percent.
Pfizer increased prices on dozens of drugs including Celontin, a treatment to prevent a certain type of seizure, Synarel, used to treat endometriosis, Xeljanz, used to treat autoimmune conditions and cancer drugs Ibrance and Xalkori.
GlaxoSmithKline increased the price of the company’s shingles vaccine Shingrix.
Bausch Health hiked the price of its plaque psoriasis treatment Siliq by nearly 10 percent.
GE Healthcare had the largest price hike to date, a 26.8 percent increase in the price of Omnipaque, a drug used before X-ray imaging tests to add contrast.
Bristol Myers Squibb hiked the price of cancer drugs Abecma and Breyanzi.

Read more about Big Pharma’s July price hikes HERE.

Read more about Big Pharma’s price increases in January of this year HERE.

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