Big Pharma: Lower The List Price

Big Pharma sets the price of the prescription drugs — and the price is the problem when it comes to Americans facing difficulty affording their prescription drugs.

Big drug companies determine the price, decide when to increase the price, block competition to keep the price high and increase sales by spending billions of dollars each year advertising high-priced products to consumers.

In 2023, drug companies launched new U.S. drugs at prices 35 percent higher than the previous year.

Between 2008 and 2021, new drugs launched at prices that increased exponentially, by 20 percent each year.

Big Pharma is ripping off Americans. Big Pharma increases drug prices year in and year out, including increasing the price of 556 drugs in just the first week of 2024, with a median increase higher than the rate of inflation.

A recent analysis found that Big Pharma’s price increases on five top-selling drugs cost U.S. patients and the health care system $815 million in 2023, despite a lack of innovation to justify those price increases.

Another report from AARP found that Big Pharma “consistently” hiked prices above inflation on 943 top-selling drugs in all but one year between 2006 and 2020.

Big Pharma’s anti-competitive practices, like patent abuse, cost U.S. consumers an additional $40.07 billion on drug spending in just one year.

One of Big Pharma’s anti-competitive tactics is the practice of filing dozens or even hundreds of patents on just one drug to create a patent thicket to keep competition out of the market. This strategy netted $158 billion on just four top selling biologic drugs between primary patent expiration and biosimilar launch.

Americans are paying the highest prices in the world when it comes to prescriptions.

Across brand drugs, pharma list prices are 422 percent higher in the U.S. than in other countries.

The list price for a pair of autoinjectors for Dupixent, a biologic used to treat COPD, asthma, and eczema among other conditions, is $3,993 in the U.S. – including a 5 percent increase on January 3, 2025, and is more than twice that of France ($1,453).

The list price for a 30-day supply of Invokana, a drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, is nearly $600 in the U.S., which is nine times higher than in Canada ($64).

The list price for a 30-day supply of Opsumit, a drug that treats pulmonary arterial hypertension, is nearly $13,000 after a 2.5 percent price increase on January 3, 2025, which is six times higher than in Australia ($1,971).

Of the 356 drugs approved by the FDA between 2010-2019, 99.4 percent included research funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Big Pharma’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising encourages Americans to take expensive blockbuster drugs they may not even need.

Drug companies spend roughly $6 billion each year on DTC ads. From 2016 to 2018, they spent $17.8 billion on DTC ads.

Ten of the largest drug companies spent $36 billion — or 37 percent — more on sales expenses and marketing than on research and development.

Simply put: PBMs support lower drug prices.

In fact, PBMs have repeatedly called on drug companies to lower list prices on their products to benefit consumers, including on specific drug classes, like high-priced GLP-1 treatments for weight loss and diabetes.

PBMs have committed to expanding and continuing access to drugs, but the ball is in Big Pharma’s court to lower prices.

Big Pharma: Lower The List Price

Simply put: PBMs support lower drug prices.

When Will Drug Companies Answer The Call To Lower Egregious Drug Prices? Tell Big Pharma: Lower The List Price.

$148 billion

$1000 +

$275 million

Affordability

Savings

Choice

When Will Drug Companies Answer The Call To Lower Egregious Drug Prices?
Tell Big Pharma: Lower The List Price.