Including more than 60 drugs produced by Pfizer Group (USA). Typically, Pfizer has increased prices by 3-5% for Covid-19 treatment drug Paxlovid, migraine treatment drug Nurtec and cancer treatment drugs Adcetris, Ibrance and Xeljanz.
Most new drug price increases in the US are less than 10%
Bristol Myers Company (USA) also increased the prices of expensive cancer treatment drugs Abecma and Breyanzi by 6% and 9%, respectively. These two leukemia treatment drugs can cost patients nearly $500,000. French pharmaceutical company Sanofi has also increased the prices of more than 10 vaccines from 2.9 to 9%.
Most drug price increases are less than 10%. The average price increase for drugs on January 1 was 4.5%, equivalent to the average price increase of all increases last year. Larger drug price increases were once common in the United States, but in recent years drugmakers have rolled back their increases after steep price hikes were sharply criticized in the middle of the last decade.
Pharmaceutical companies also reduced prices of some drugs on January 1. In particular, Merck & Co (USA) intends to reduce the list price of diabetes drugs Januvia and Janumet “to adjust the list price closer to the actual price”.
The US pays more for prescription drugs than any other country, according to Reuters. US President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to reduce drug costs by focusing on middlemen in the country’s healthcare system.
