New York: Drugmakers including Pfizer, Sanofi, and GlaxoSmithKline plan to raise prices on more than 300 drugs in the United States. The new prices will come into effect January 1. The increase in the prices of over 300 drugs will also have an effect on the Indian market. Indian pharmaceutical companies buy a lot of vital drugs from these companies.
The hikes come as drugmakers are reeling from effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has reduced doctor visits and demand for some drugs. They are also fighting new drug price cutting rules from the Trump administration, which would reduce the industry’s profitability.
The companies have kept their price increases at 10 per cent or below. The largest drug companies to raise prices so far, Pfizer and Sanofi, kept nearly all of their increases to five per cent or less according to health analysis research agency ‘3 Axis’. It is a consulting firm that works with pharmacists groups, health plans and foundation on drug pricing and supply chain issues.
GSK did raise prices on two vaccines – shingles vaccine Shingrix and diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine Pediarix – by seven and 8.6 per cent respectively.
Teva Pharmaceuticals hiked prices on 15 drugs, including Austedo, which treats rare neurological disorders, and asthma steroid Qvar. The two drugs grossed more than $650 million in sales in 2019 and saw price hikes of between five and six per cent respectively.
More price hikes are expected to be announced Friday and in early January.
In 2020, drugmakers raised prices on more than 860 drugs by around five per cent, on average, according to ‘3 Axis’. Drug price increases have slowed substantially since 2015, both in terms of the size of the hikes and the number of drugs affected.
The increases come as pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer are playing hero by developing vaccines for COVID-19 in record time. The hikes could help make up for lost revenue as doctors visits and new prescriptions plummeted during the global lockdown.
Pfizer plans to raise prices on more than 60 drugs by between 0.5 % and 5%. Those include roughly 5% increases on some of its top sellers like rheumatoid arthritis treatment ‘Xeljanz’ and cancer drugs ‘Ibrance’ and ‘Inlyta’.
Pfizer said it had adjusted the list prices of its drugs by around 1.3 per cent across all products in its portfolio, in line with inflation.
“This modest increase is necessary to support investments that allow us to continue to discover new medicines and deliver those breakthroughs to the patients who need them,” Pfizer spokeswoman Amy Rose said in a statement.
France’s Sanofi plans to increase prices on a number of vaccines by five per cent or less. It will announce more price increases later in January, spokesperson Ashleigh Koss said.
President-elect Biden has also vowed to reduce drug costs and to allow Medicare, a US government health insurance program, to negotiate drug prices. He has support from Congressional Democrats to pass such legislation, which the Congressional Budget Office has said could cost the industry more than $300 billion by 2029.
