CSRxP: BIG PHARMA RINGS IN 2026 WITH MORE THAN 300 PRICE INCREASES ON BRAND NAME DRUGS, OUTPACING START OF 2025
Big Pharma Giants Including Pfizer and GSK Kickoff a New Year with Price Hikes Outpacing Inflation on Hundreds of Brand Name Products
Washington, D.C. – The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) released a statement Monday after brand name pharmaceutical companies increased prices on hundreds of brand name prescription drugs to start the new year.
“Big Pharma is ringing in the new year with egregious price increases outpacing the rate of inflation on hundreds of brand name prescription drugs,” said CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson. “Big Pharma’s price increases to kickoff 2026 already surpass its pace at this same time last year, demonstrating brand name drug companies are not slowing down in their business-as-usual approach to price-gouging the American people.”
“Big Pharma’s repeated price hikes on brand name drugs, enabled by anti-competitive tactics like gaming the U.S. patent system, are the root cause of high drug prices in America and a major contributor to health care inflation,” Aronson continued. “CSRxP looks forward to continuing to work with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, as well as the administration, to lower prescription drug prices for the American people in 2026 by holding Big Pharma accountable.”
According to Reuters, Big Pharma planned to increase prices on at least 350 brand name drugs to start the year, “including vaccines against COVID, RSV and shingles and blockbuster cancer treatment Ibrance.”
According to Reuters “[t]he number of price increases for 2026 is up from the same point last year.” The median price increase is four percent, outpacing the most recent 2.7 percent rate of inflation from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“More price hikes and cuts can be expected in early January, which is historically the biggest month for drugmakers to raise prices,” according to Reuters.
Big Pharma giant Pfizer announced the most price increases so far “on around 80 different drugs including cancer drug Ibrance, migraine pill Nurtec, and COVID treatment Paxlovid.” Brand name drug maker GSK is also expected to increase prices “on around 20 drugs and vaccines,” with price increases ranging from two percent to 8.9 percent.
Big Pharma’s price hikes have been repeatedly proven unjustified by any improved clinical value for American patients. According to a December 2024 analysis from the Institute of Clinical and Economical Review (ICER), brand name drug makers’ egregious price hikes on just five widely used prescription medications, without any accompanying true innovation, cost U.S. patients and the health care system an additional $815 million in 2023.
Read more on Big Pharma’s egregious pricing practices from last year HERE.
Read more on the cost of Big Pharma’s unjustified price hikes HERE.
Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.
And stay tuned as we continue to monitor Big Pharma’s price increase in the first weeks of the new year.
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