BIG PHARMA WATCH: HEADLINES FROM BIG PHARMA’S 2020 PRICE HIKE BONANZA

News from First Weeks of New Year Underscores Urgent Need for Action in Congress

In case you missed it, Big Pharma has hiked prices on 2,167 prescription drugs so far this year – proving once again that without legislative action, brand name drug makers will continue to price-gouge American patients. Among the companies hiking prices were brand name giants Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi who hiked prices on drugs in their portfolios by a median of five percent. Overall, the number of drugs that experienced January price hikes rose17 percent from the same period last year.

The price hikes come as the crisis of prescription drug affordability continues to grow. A November 2019 Gallupsurvey found nearly 23 percent of Americans, approaching 58 million U.S. adults, say they have been unable to afford drugs they were prescribed in the past 12 months. The survey found the number of Americans who reported struggling to afford their medications also rose four percent from the start of the year.

The price hikes, at a time of growing concern over affordability, generated a slew of unsavory headlines for the pharmaceutical industry across the first two weeks of 2020 — underscoring the urgent need for Congress to act and pass market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable:

• Drug Price Hikes Are Back For 2020 – Axios, 1/6/20
• Novartis, Merck And Allergan Join Big Pharma’s 2020 Price-Hike Parade – FiercePharma, 1/6/20
• Drug Price Hike Update: Merck, Allergen, Novartis Raise Prices – Becker’s Hospital Review, 1/6/20
• Democrats And Republicans Promised To Lower Drug Prices. Instead They’ve Gone Up Again – CNN, 1/5/20
• 2020 Is Three Days Old And Drug Prices Are Already Jumping – CBS News, 1/3/20
• Novartis, Merck And Allergan Join Those Raising U.S. Drug Prices For 2020 – Reuters, 1/3/20
• Two Blockbuster Cancer Drugs See New Year Price Hikes – Modern Healthcare, 1/3/20
• Drugmakers Hike 2020 Medicine Prices Despite Lawmakers’ Ire – Bloomberg, 1/2/20
• It’s ‘Business As Usual’ As Many Drug Makers Boost Prices For The New Year – STAT News, 1/2/20
• Pfizer, Abbvie And Gilead Among Drugmakers Boosting Prices To Start 2020 – BioPharmaDive, 1/2/20
• Drug-Price Increases Show Business As Usual Despite Public Pressure – Barron’s, 1/2/20
• Big Pharma Raised Prices Of Several Prescription Drugs On First Day Of 2020 – Fortune, 1/2/20
• Drug Companies Ring In The New Year With Higher Prices – The Fiscal Times, 1/2/20
• Bristol-Myers, Gilead, And Biogen Hike US Drug Prices As The New Year Begins – CNBC, 1/1/20
• Exclusive: Drugmakers From Pfizer To GSK To Hike U.S. Prices On Over 200 Drugs – Reuters, 12/31/19