Makers of drugs still push up prices

President Donald Trump succeeded in convincing Pfizer Inc. to hold off on price increases it had planned for this month.

But the pharmaceutical giant wasn’t the only drug company seeking to charge more for its products in recent days.

In the first 10 days of July, at least 10 other drugmakers and biotechnology companies raised prices on at least 20 brand-name medicines, a review of pricing data from Rx Savings Solutions and Bloomberg Intelligence shows.

The increases, for medications for cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and liver disease, were generally each less than 10 percent. But the price of one little-prescribed sleep aid was raised by more than 700 percent.

Celgene Corp. raised the price of blockbuster cancer drug Revlimid by 5 percent to $695.48 a capsule, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence and First Databank. Since Trump was elected in Nov. 2016, the drug’s price has been raised by over 25 percent through

four separate increases.

Celgene also increased the price of Pomalyst, another cancer drug, by 5 percent.

The number of price increases in a short period suggests that Trump’s use of the bully pulpit is likely to have little impact on drug prices in the long term, said Michael Rea, chief executive officer of Rx Savings Solutions, which helps patients find low-cost drugs.

Some other drugmakers, under pressure from a new California price-transparency law and the broader political climate, have canceled plans to raise prices. Nevertheless, the number of increases “signals that the fear from government threat is waning,” said Rea.

“I expect no lasting impact from Pfizer’s agreement,” said Rea. While the drugmaker received blow-back because of its prominence, other companies “are happy to be flying under the radar.”

On Wednesday, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sent letters to Pfizer and the Department of Health and Human Services, asking for details of the agreement. He called the result of Trump’s one-on-one effort with Pfizer “cheap PR points that don’t address the fundamental challenges that lead to higher prices every year.”

On Thursday, one of the administration’s top health officials promised more action on drug pricing soon.

“There’s going to be a lot of announcements,” Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a meeting with reporters in Washington. “We probably meet every single day on this.”

By far the biggest price increase this month — of more than 700 percent — came from tiny Aytu BioScience Inc., for an obscure sleep drug called Zolpimist. The new price of a 30-dose canister of the oral spray is $329.50, up from around $40. The price of a 60-dose canister rose to $659, up from around $70, the company confirmed.

Last year there were just 2,400 prescriptions for the drug, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.

The move still leaves the product below the per-dose prices for other branded sleep aids like Ambien, Chief Executive Josh Disbrow said. He said that Zolpimist was underpriced when his company acquired it on June 11.

In June, Celgene CEO Mark Alles vowed to limit price increases to once a year, capping them at the projected annual percentage growth in U.S. medical spending, which this year was forecast to be 5.3 percent. The latest increases

are in line with that pledge.

“We recently took pricing actions for two of our eight FDA-approved medicines at less than the rate of anticipated U.S. health care spending growth for the year,” Celgene spokesman Greg Geissman said in an email. “No further pricing actions for these or any of our other FDA-approved medicines are anticipated this year.”

Still, “any price increase in the current environment appears bold,” especially after Pfizer’s showdown with Trump, Cowen & Co. analyst Phil Nadeau wrote Wednesday.

Roche Holding AG, which recently canceled a planned 4 percent increase for anticlotting drug Cathflo Activase, raised prices on some of its costly top-selling cancer drugs.

This month, it increased the price of a single-use vial of breast-cancer drug Herceptin by 3 percent. Avastin, another cancer drug, went up 2.5 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence and First Databank. The changes follow increases for both drugs in January.

Insulin costs, a long-standing pain point for diabetes patients, have also risen this month. In early July, Novo Nordisk A/S raised the price of Levemir and Novolog by 5 percent, to $293.75 for a 10 milliliter vial of Levemir and $289.36 for a 10 milliliter vial of Novolog. Patients can use

more than one vial a month. The Danish drugmaker also raised the price of its Victoza diabetes injection by 7.9 percent.

Acorda Therapeutics Inc. said it raised the price of Ampyra multiple sclerosis drug by 9.5 percent this month because its patent is due to expire on July 30.

“This was the last price increase on the brand,” said Tierney Saccavino, an executive vice president for Acorda. The company is appealing a court decision that invalidated several of its Ampyra patents.