BIG PHARMA WATCH: BIG PHARMA HIKED PRICES ON MORE THAN 100 MEDICATIONS ABOVE THE RATE OF INFLATION THIS SUMMER

Nov 2, 2023

New Analysis Finds Drug Companies Continue to Price-Gouge American Patients, Increase Prices on Brand Name Drugs Used to Treat Serious Conditions

An analysis released Wednesday by the Center for American Progress (CAP) found that Big Pharma increased prices on 112 medications above the annual inflation rate in July of this year.

To conduct the analysis, CAP examined a dataset from Patients for Affordable Drugs of all drugs that faced price increases above one percent on July 1 of this year. CAP then compared those price increases to the “Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U)” from June 2022 to June 2023, which showed a rate of inflation of three percent.

CAP’s analysis found 112 prescription drugs faced list price increases above the annual rate of inflation. The median list price increase for these 112 medications was 3.9 percent, or 30 percent higher than the rate of inflation. Of the 112 prescription medications that faced price increases above three percent, more than 30 of these were above eight percent. Some of the most egregious price increases include a 34 percent increase by Big Pharma giant Pfizer and its subsidiary Hospira on Lorazepam, an anti-anxiety medication, as well as a 478 percent increase by Blue Water Biotech on Entadfi, a medication that treats benign prostatic hyperplasia.

The analysis is the latest evidence that Big Pharma continues to follow a business-as-usual playbook to price-gouging American patients.

Read the full analysis from the Center for American Progress HERE.

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

Learn more about bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.