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CSRXP: POLICYMAKERS SHOULD TAKE NOTICE AS PFIZER DOUBLES DOWN ON PLANS TO HIKE VACCINE PRICE
Mar 16, 2021
Big Pharma CFO Hypes “Significant Opportunity” From “Pricing Perspective” Post-Pandemic
Washington, D.C. – The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) issued a statement today reacting to the latest comments from Pfizer Chief Financial Officer Frank D’Amelio hyping the company’s “significant opportunity” to hike vaccine prices to boost profits post-pandemic.
“Pfizer continues to openly hype its intention to hike the price of its COVID-19 vaccine as soon as the public health crisis eases,” said CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson. “For Pfizer to double-down on its pledge to hike vaccine prices while receiving billions of dollars from taxpayers demonstrates that policymakers must be ready to act to ensure COVID-19 vaccines remain affordably and responsibly priced.”
Speaking at the Barclays Global Healthcare Conference on March 11, D’Amelio said that “as we move from a pandemic state, from a pandemic situation to an endemic situation, normal market forces, normal market conditions will start to kick in. And factors like efficacy, booster ability, clinical utility will basically become very important, and we view that as, quite frankly, a significant opportunity for our vaccine from a demand perspective, from a pricing perspective, given the clinical profile of our vaccine. So clearly, more to come here. But we think as this shifts from pandemic to endemic, we think there’s an opportunity here for us.”
That is at least the second time D’Amelio has hyped coming vaccine price hikes from Pfizer. On an earnings call just last month, D’Amelio told investors Pfizer was “obviously… going to get more on price” on its COVID-19 vaccine after the current “pandemic pricing environment.” If that was not a clear enough commitment to investors that the company intended to hike prices on its vaccine, D’Amelio also said there would be “significant opportunity” to boost margins on the vaccine “once we get beyond the pandemic environment that we’re in.”
Big Pharma giants, including Pfizer, have also continued to hike prices on many of their products throughout the pandemic. In just the first few months of 2021, Pfizer hiked prices on prescription drugs in its portfolio more than 130 times. Industry-wide, drug companies have hiked prices on brand name drugs more than 800 times so far this year.
Read more on how Pfizer’s pledge to hike vaccine prices conflicts with company messaging on vaccine affordability HERE.
Read more on Pfizer’s pledge to investors to hike COVID-19 vaccine prices HERE.
Read more on Pfizer’s fourth quarter earnings and pandemic price hikes HERE.
Learn more about market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable and lower prescription drug prices HERE.