Big Pharma raises prescription drug prices on New Year’s Day

By: Bob F.

Happy New Year … hope you don’t need a prescription in 2020.

Drugmakers including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer and Biogen on Wednesday hiked US list prices on more than 50 drugs — including life-saving cancer and HIV meds — bringing the total number prescription medicines that will cost more this year to over 250, according to the healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors.

Other Big Pharma outfits, including Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi SA, also planned to increase prices on more than 200 drugs on New Year’s Day.

Nearly all of the price increases are below 10 percent and the median price increase is about half of that, according to 3 Axis.

Soaring prescription drug prices are expected to be a central issue in the presidential election.

President Trump made lowering US prescription drug prices a key pledge of his 2016 campaign, and was expected to focus on the issue again as he runs for reelection.

“Hard-working Americans don’t deserve to pay such high prices for the drugs they need. We are fighting DAILY to make sure this HAPPENS,” he tweeted in November.

Many drugmakers had pledged to keep their US list price increases below 10 percent a year, under pressure from politicians and patients.

Bristol-Myers raised the price on 10 drugs on Wednesday, including 1.5 percent hikes on cancer immunotherapies Opdivo and Yervoy and a 6 percent increase on its blood thinner Eliquis, all of which bring in billions of dollars in revenue annually.

The company also raised the price on Celgene’s flagship multiple myeloma drug, Revlimid, by 6 percent.

Gilead raised prices on more than 15 drugs including HIV treatments Biktarvy and Truvada less than 5 percent, according to 3 Axis.

And Biogen price increases included a 6 percent hike on the multiple sclerosis treatment Tecfidera.

The US, which leaves drug pricing to market competition, has higher prices than other countries where governments directly or indirectly control the costs, making the States the world’s most lucrative market for manufacturers.

Drugmakers often negotiate rebates on their list prices in exchange for favorable treatment from healthcare payers.

As a result, health insurers and patients rarely pay the full list price of a drug.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month proposed allowing prescription drugs to be imported from Canada, a move Trump’s Food and Drug Administration also supports.

“The exorbitant cost of prescription drugs is a massive burden on families across the country, and we’re determined to use every tool in the tool box and pursue every available avenue to bring real relief to New Yorkers,” Cuomo said then.