Big Pharma Watch: Manufacturers Thumb Nose at Drug Price Crisis

Drug Makers Continue Price-Gouging Patients as Americans Demand Accountability

The summer is heating up and so too is Big Pharma’s zeal for putting profits over people. Brand name drug makers kicked off the mid-year months with price hikes on hundreds of drugs. Big Pharma’s summer price-gouging bonanza builds on the industry’s rapid pace of price hikes, far exceeding inflation, over the last six months.

According to analysis conducted by Wells Fargo & Co, drug makers:

• Raised prescription drug prices by an average of 27 percent in June.
• Raised prices on 106 prescription drugs in June compared to 101 in May.

Examples of brand name manufacturers hiking prices include:

• Sandoz, a subsidiary of Novartis, hiked prices on six drugs by 9.9 percent.
• AbbVie increased the price of blood cancer drug Venclexta by 5 percent.
• Merck hiked the price on HIV therapy Insentress by 5 percent.
• Eli Lilly boosted the price for cancer drugs Cyramza, Alimta and Erbitux by 2.5 percent.

The analysis from Wells Fargo comes on the heels of data released last week by Rx Savings Solutions which found drug prices climbed by 10.5 percent over the past six months – four times faster than inflation. Over those six months, prices increased on a whopping 3,443 drugs, compared to 2,919 drugs the previous year.

Big Pharma clearly remains undeterred from its price-gouging playbook, despite the fact one in four Americans are unable to afford their medications.

The latest round of price hikes demonstrate Big Pharma will continue to thumb its nose at this crisis until Congress acts to hold the industry accountable and deliver concrete relief for American patients.

According to a survey commissioned by the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP), a whopping 84 percent of Americans want policymakers in Washington to focus on cracking down on Big Pharma’s anti-competitive tactics and price-gouging.

With Big Pharma continuing to demonstrate egregious pricing behavior and the American people demanding action, Congress can’t miss this moment to deliver results.

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