BIG PHARMA WATCH: HEADLINES FROM BIG PHARMA’S NEW YEAR PRICE HIKES

Jan 11, 2021

Second Major Round of Pandemic Price Increases Underscores Urgency for Congress to Hold Drug Companies Accountable

In case you missed it, Big Pharma hiked prices on at least 629 prescription drugs in just the first week of the New Year. Brand name giants Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi were among the companies who increased prices on drugs in their portfolio as part of the industry’s second major round of pandemic price hikes.

  • Pfizer hiked prices on more than 130 drugs, including on its cancer treatment Ibrance and popular rheumatoid arthritis drug Xeljanz.
  • GlaxoSmithKline raised prices on more than 30 drugs, including on its blockbuster respiratory treatments and its cancer drug Zejula.
  • Sanofi raised prices on more than one dozen of its drugs.
This round of price hikes comes as millions of American workers, families and seniors continue to grapple with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic — and while many Big Pharma companies receive billion in taxpayer funding for COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.

This is also Big Pharma’s second major round of pandemic price hikes. Last summer, despite calls to suspend traditional mid-year price hikes while millions of Americans dealt with the economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 crisis, sure enough, like clockwork, Big Pharma increased prices on more than 65 brand name drugs.

This latest round of price hikes, at a time of heightened concern over affordability, generated a slew of unsavory headlines for the pharmaceutical industry – underscoring the need for Congress to act and pass bipartisan market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable:

Read CSRxP’s statement on Big Pharma’s New Year price hikes HERE.

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

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