NEW YORK (Reuters) – Pharmaceuticals like Pfizer Inc, Sanofi SA and GlaxoSmithKline Plc plan to raise prices for more than 300 drugs in the United States on January 1, according to pharmaceutical companies and data analyzed by the health research firm 3 Axis Advisors.
The increases occur at a time when pharmaceutical companies are recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reduced medical appointments and the demand for some drugs. They are also battling the Trump administration’s new drug price cut rules, which would reduce the sector’s profitability.
The companies have kept their price increases at 10% or less, and the largest pharmaceutical companies that have increased prices so far, Pfizer and Sanofi, have maintained almost all of their increases of 5% or less, 3 Axis said. 3 Axis is a consulting company that works with groups of pharmacists, health plans and foundations on drug pricing and supply chain issues.
GSK raised the prices of two vaccines – Shingrix herpes vaccine and diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis Pediarix vaccine – by 7% and 8.6%, respectively, 3 Axis said.
Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc has increased prices for 15 drugs, including Austedo, which treats rare neurological disorders, and the asthma steroid Qvar, which together grossed more than $ 650 million in sales in 2019 and saw price increases of between 5% and 6% %. Teva has increased the prices of some medications, including the muscle relaxant Amrix and treatment with Nuvigil narcolepsy, by up to 9.4%.
Further price increases are expected to be announced on Friday and early January.
In 2020, pharmacists raised the prices of more than 860 drugs by about 5 percent, on average, according to 3 Axis. Increases in drug prices have decreased substantially since 2015, both in terms of the size of the increases and the number of drugs affected.
The increases come at a time when pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer are becoming heroes by developing vaccines for COVID-19 in record time. The increases can help make up for lost revenue as medical appointments and new prescriptions plummeted during the global blockade.
Pfizer plans to increase prices for more than 60 drugs by between 0.5% and 5%. This includes increases of around 5% in some of its best-selling products, such as treatment for rheumatoid arthritis Xeljanz and cancer drugs Ibrance and Inlyta.
Pfizer said it has adjusted the list prices of its drugs by about 1.3% on all products in its portfolio, in line with inflation.
“This modest increase is needed to support investments that allow us to continue to discover new drugs and deliver these advances to patients who need them,” said spokeswoman Amy Rose in a statement, pointing in particular to the COVID-19 vaccine that the company developed with BioNTech SE from Germany.
He said his net prices, which return discounts to pharmacy benefit managers and other discounts, have actually dropped in the past 3 years.
French company Sanofi plans to raise prices for a series of vaccines by 5% or less and will announce further price increases in late January, spokesman Ashleigh Koss said.
None of the company’s price hikes will be above the expected 5.1 percent growth rate for U.S. healthcare spending, she said.
Cutting prices on prescription drugs in the U.S. – which are among the highest in the world – was the focus of U.S. President Donald Trump, after making him a central pledge of his 2016 campaign. He issued several executive orders at the end 2020 with the aim of cutting prices, but its impact could be limited by legal challenges and other problems.
A federal judge earlier this month blocked a last-minute rule from the Trump administration aimed at lowering drug prices, which was due to be implemented earlier this year. It has been contested by groups in the pharmaceutical industry, including PhRMA, the country’s leading pharmaceutical trade group.
President-elect Biden has also pledged to cut drug costs and allow Medicare, a US government health insurance program, to negotiate drug prices. He has the support of Congressional Democrats to pass this legislation, which the Congressional Budget Office said could cost the industry more than $ 300 billion by 2029.
Reporting by Michael Erman, edited by Nick Zieminski