BIG PHARMA WATCH: UNJUSTIFIED PRICE HIKES ON FIVE BRAND NAME DRUGS COST U.S. $815 MILLION IN 2023

ICER Analysis Highlights Big Pharma Price Hikes Outpacing Inflation on Brand Name Blockbusters, With No Added Clinical Benefit for Patients

A new analysis from the Institute of Clinical and Economical Review (ICER) finds that brand name drug makers’ egregious price hikes on five widely used prescription medications, without any accompanying true innovation, cost U.S. patients and the health care system an additional $815 million in 2023.

ICER’s most recent Unsupported Price Increase Report examines substantial price hikes on prescription drugs without new clinical evidence or improvements to justify the increases. Several pharmaceutical giants were on this year’s list of top offenders, including Gilead Sciences, Johnson & Johnson, and Novartis. The report offers the latest reminder Big Pharma’s price hikes are about boosting profits, not innovation.

Here are some takeaways from ICER’s most recent analysis:

• Gilead Sciences’ HIV drug Biktarvy – a case study in Big Pharma’s patent abuse – topped the list, costing taxpayers an additional $359 million after the company increased the drug’s price 5.9 percent in 2023.
• Johnson & Johnson raised the price of multiple myeloma treatment Darzalex by 7.6 percent in 2023, costing American patients an additional $190 million.
• Big Pharma giant Novartis increased the price of its heart treatment Entresto by 6.2 percent, resulting in $108 million in additional spending.
• Amgen raised the price of osteoporosis medication Prolia by 7.6 percent, causing spending to rise $140 million in 2022.
• Amgen also increased the price of bone marrow stimulant Nplate by 6.8 percent, totaling an additional $17 million in spending.

“We continue to see list price increases that are far above the rate of inflation for many of the costliest drugs,” said ICER Vice President of Research Foluso Agboola in a statement on the report. “These price hikes resulted in over $800 million in excess costs to the US health care system in just one year alone. This impacts everyone in the country, especially patients and their families.”

Big Pharma’s price hikes, enabled by anti-competitive tactic carry a tremendous cost burden for American patients and the U.S. health care system. Congress must act to increase competition and lower drug prices, by cracking down on Big Pharma’s egregious abuse of the patent system.

Read ICER’s Unsupported Price Increase Report HERE.

Read more on Big Pharma’s history of hiking prices above the rate of inflation HERE.

Learn more about market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable and lower drug prices HERE.

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