Written by Michael Ehrman
NEW YORK (Reuters) – In early 2025, drugmakers will sell Pfizer’s COVID-19 drug paxlobid, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s cancer cell therapy and France’s Sanofi’s It says it plans to raise prices in the U.S. for at least 250 brand-name drugs, including vaccines. 3 Axis Advisor Office.
Almost all drug price increases are less than 10%, and most are significantly less. The median drug price increase on January 1st is 4.5%, which is in line with the median price increase for all drugs last year.
Markups are list prices and do not include rebates or other discounts for Pharmacy Benefit Managers.
Large drug price hikes were once much more common in the United States, but drug companies have scaled back their hikes in recent years after they drew intense criticism in the middle of the last decade.
“Pharmaceutical companies no longer have a lot of real estate to raise prices over time, meaning that in the face of increasing penalties for year-on-year price increases, the only option they really have is to raise their launch prices. It means more freedom,” President Antonio Ciaccia said.
Pharmaceutical companies launched new drugs in the U.S. at 35% higher prices in 2023 than in 2022, according to a Reuters new drug price analysis.
The price increases for more than 250 medicines represent an increase from December 29 last year, when drug companies announced plans to increase prices for more than 140 branded medicines.
Pharmaceutical companies are also reducing some prices on January 1st. Merck & Company plans to reduce the list prices of its heavily discounted diabetes drugs Januvia and Janumet “to bring the list price closer to the net price.”
US pays the most
The United States pays more for prescription drugs than any other country, and President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to reduce drug costs by focusing on middlemen in the U.S. health care system.
Other drug companies are likely to announce further price hikes during January, historically the biggest month for drug price hikes for pharmaceutical companies.
Pfizer has increased the prices of most drugs on its latest list (more than 60 drugs). In addition to the 3% price hike for Paxlobid, the company also increased prices of other drugs by 3% to 5%, including migraine drug Nurtec and cancer drugs ADCETRIS, IBRANCE, and XELJANZ.
“Pfizer has adjusted average list prices for our medicines and vaccines in 2025 to be below the overall rate of inflation (approximately 2.4%) across many products in our diverse product portfolio,” Pfizer spokeswoman Amy Rose said. he said in an email. He said the increase would support investment in drug development and help offset costs.
Bristol-Myers has raised the prices of its expensive cancer cell therapy drugs Avekuma and Breyange by 6% and 9%, respectively. Personalized blood cancer treatments can already cost nearly $500,000.
A BMS spokesperson said in an email that the company is “committed to providing patients with unfettered access” to its medicines. She said Breyange’s price in particular “reflects a potentially transformative individualized treatment in a single infusion.”
Sanofi has raised the prices of about a dozen vaccines by 2.9% to 9%.
According to the three-axis analysis, the company with the biggest brand price increase was Leadiant Pharmaceuticals, a division of Italy’s Essetifin. The company increased the price of its Hodgkin’s disease drug Maturan by about 15%, and the price of Cystaran, an eye drop that helps patients with symptoms of a rare disease called cystinosis, by about 20%.
Spokespeople for Lead Ant and Sanofi did not respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Michael Ehrman; Editing by David Gregorio)
