Drug prices to hike in 2021 as pandemic jolts revenues: Report

Drugmakers, including Pfizer, Sanofi SA, and others are mulling over plans to hike prices of more than 300 drugs in the US on January 1, a report based on drugmakers and data analysed by medical research firm 3 Axis Advisors.

The increase in prices so far has been 10 per cent or below, but big organisations like Pfizer and Sanofi raised the prices of their drugs not more than 5 per cent, 3 Axis Advisors said, as reported by news agency Reuters. 

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The research firm also said that GSK did hike prices of two vaccines Shingrix and Pediarix by 7 and 8.6 per cent respectively. 

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Several drugs are expected to raise prices of their drugs in early January as makers are struggling to deal with the severe effect of coronavirus pandemic that has led to a reduction in doctor visits and hampered demand of new drugs. 

3 Axis analysis said that last year, prices of over 860 drugs were raised by around 5 per cent on average. 

The hike in drug prices have substantially slowed down since 2015 but could help pharma companies like Pfizer that have developed Covid-19 vaccine in record time and make up for the lost revenue due to a reduction in doctor visits for other illness.