BIG PHARMA DOUBLES DOWN ON SUMMER PRICE HIKES AS AMERICANS CONTINUE TO BATTLE PANDEMIC

Tracking Data Finds Drug Companies Increased Prices On at Least 67 Brand Name Drugs This Summer Despite Economic Crisis and Rising Concern With Rx Affordability

Washington, D.C. – The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) released a statement Thursday on updated data showing Big Pharma continued hiking prescription drug prices through the summer while Americans grappled with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since July 1, drug companies have increased prices on more than 65 brand name drugs as part of traditional biennial summer price hikes. In January of this year, Big Pharma increased prices on more than 600 drugs by an average of 5.2 percent.

“While Americans faced a summer of unprecedented economic uncertainty and historic challenges, Big Pharma doubled-down on its price-hiking business-as-usual playbook,” said CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson. “Big Pharma’s remorseless pandemic price hikes this summer demonstrate more clearly than ever why policymakers must act to hold the industry accountable.”

“Big Pharma’s pandemic price hikes will negatively impact the economic and health care security of millions of American patients, seniors and families,” Aronson continued. “Now is not the time to reward Big Pharma for their egregious behavior by handing the industry a $100 billion bailout, paid for on the backs of Americans seniors and taxpayers, through a revival of the misguided Rebate Rule.”

Updated tracking data from GoodRx shows Big Pharma increased prices on at least 67 brand name drugs in July as part of traditional biennial summer price hikes by an average of 3.1 percent – exceeding last summer’s price hikes and climbing from an earlier reported total of more than 40.

Twelve of Big Pharma’s summer price hikes equal or exceed five percent, including four from brand name drug giant AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca hiked prices on three products in the company’s portfolio by six percent in July, including cholesterol medication Crestor; heartburn medication Nexium and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) medication Daliresp. AstraZeneca hiked the price of COPD medication Bevespi Aerosphere by five percent. In July of this year, AstraZeneca reported a net profit of $756 million, up from $130 million in the same period a year earlier, after increasing prescription drug prices at least 25 times this year.

HRA Pharma notched the highest percentage increase so far this summer, hiking Metopirone by 25 percent, according to a study from Analysource.

Engaging in price hikes during a pandemic, while receiving billions of dollars from taxpayers to help develop COVID-19 treatments, demonstrates why policymakers must act to hold Big Pharma accountable — and why now is NOT the time to revisit or implement the misguided Rebate Rule that would hand Big Pharma a bailout at the expense of American patients, seniors and taxpayers. If implemented the Rebate Rule would:

• Increase Premiums On American Seniors And Patients With Disabilities By Between 25 and 40 Percent: Analysts at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Avalere Health all agree that under the Rebate Rule, Medicare Part D premiums would increase between 25 and 40 percent. (Center For Medicare & Medicaid Services Office Of The Actuary, Memo On Proposed Safe Harbor Regulation, 1/31/19; Congressional Budget Office, Incorporating The Effects Of The Proposed Rule On Safe Harbors For Pharmaceutical Rebates In CBO’s Budget Projections, 5/2/19; Avalere Health, Costs for Taxpayers Could Skyrocket Under Proposed Rebate Rule, 4/8/19)
• Cost American Taxpayers Between $200 Billion and $400 Billion Dollars: Analysts at the CBO, CMS and Avalere Health all agree the proposed rule would come at a tremendous cost to American taxpayers, with a price tag ranging from nearly $200 billion to more than $400 billion from 2020 to 2029, making it one of the most expensive regulations in U.S. history. (Center For Medicare & Medicaid Services Office Of The Actuary, Memo On Proposed Safe Harbor Regulation, 1/31/19; Congressional Budget Office, Incorporating The Effects Of The Proposed Rule On Safe Harbors For Pharmaceutical Rebates In CBO’s Budget Projections, 5/2/19; Avalere Health, Costs for Taxpayers Could Skyrocket Under Proposed Rebate Rule, 4/8/19)
• Hand Big Pharma A $137 Billion Bailout – Rewarding Drug Companies’ Price Hikes And Anti-Competitive Tactics: Government analysis finds that under the rule, Big Pharma will keep the dollars they currently pay in rebates and use the rule as an opportunity to line their own pockets with an increased $137 billion in overall drug spending – a bailout rewarding their anti-competitive and price-gouging behavior — at a time when the industry is already receiving billions of dollars in support for research and development of COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. (Center For Medicare & Medicaid Services Office Of The Actuary, Memo On Proposed Safe Harbor Regulation, 1/31/19)
• Do Nothing To Lower Out-Of-Control Prescription Drug Prices: Government actuaries predict drug manufacturers will keep at least 15 percent of what they would have offered in rebates, in order to offset their increased share of covering the Medicare Part D “donut hole” as outlined in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. Further, actuaries forecast drug prices increasing before finally leveling off, but do not foresee prices decreasing. (Center For Medicare & Medicaid Services Office Of The Actuary, Memo On Proposed Safe Harbor Regulation, 1/31/19)
• Increase Out-Of-Pocket Costs For Medicare Part D Beneficiaries: While there is widespread agreement the Rebate Rule would increase premiums, there is also the potential it would actually also increase out-of-pocket costs. In fact, analysts at Avalere Health found the Rebate Rule could increase out-of-pocket costs for Medicare Part D beneficiaries by as much as $36.5 billion. (Avalere Health, Costs for Taxpayers Could Skyrocket Under Proposed Rebate Rule, 4/8/19)

Read more about the Big Pharma bailout, aka Rebate Rule HERE.

Read more on Big Pharma’s biennial price hikes HERE.

Read more on market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable and lower prescription drug prices HERE.