By Michael Erman
NEW YORK, Dec 31 (Reuters) – Drugmakers plan to raise U.S. prices on at least 350 brand-name drugs including vaccines against COVID, RSV and shingles and blockbuster cancer treatment Ibrance, even as the Trump administration pressures them for cuts, according to data provided exclusively by health research firm 3 Axis Advisors.
The number of price increases for 2026 is up from the same point last year, when drugmakers revealed plans for increases on more than 250 drugs. The median of this year’s price increases is around 4% – in line with 2025.
The increases do not reflect any rebates to pharmacy benefit managers and other rebates.
DRUGS ALSO KILLED SOME PRICES
Drugmakers also plan to reduce the list prices of about nine drugs. This includes reductions of more than 40% for Boehringer Ingelheim’s diabetes drug Jardiance and three related treatments.
Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly, which sell Jardiance together, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the reason for the price cut.
Jardiance is among the 10 drugs for which the US government has negotiated a lower price for the Medicare program for people aged 65 and over in 2026. Under those negotiations, Boehringer and Lilly cut the price of Jardiance by two-thirds.
American patients currently pay by far the most for prescription drugs, often nearly three times as much as other developed nations, and Trump is pressuring drugmakers to lower their prices to what patients in similarly rich nations pay.
The increases on 350 drugs come even as Trump reached an agreement with 14 drugmakers on the prices of some of their drugs for the government’s Medicaid program for low-income Americans and those paying cash. Pfizer, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis and GSK are among those companies and they are also planning to raise the prices of some medicines on January 1st.
“These deals are being heralded as transformative when, in fact, they really nibble around the margins in terms of what’s really driving high prescription drug prices in the United States,” said Dr. Benjamin Rome, a health policy researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Ruma said the companies appear to be maximizing prices while negotiating behind-the-scenes discounts with health and drug insurers and then setting another price for direct sales to the cash consumer.
An HHS spokesman declined to comment.
CONTINUING INFLATION
Pfizer announced the biggest price increases on the list, on about 80 different drugs including the cancer drug Ibrance, the migraine pill Nurtec, and the COVID treatment Paxlovid, as well as some administered in hospitals such as morphine and hydromorphone.
Most of Pfizer’s increases are below 10%, except for a 15% increase of the Comirnaty COVID vaccine, while some of its relatively cheap hospital drugs saw increases of more than four times.
Pfizer said in a statement that it had adjusted the average price of its list of innovative medicines and vaccines for 2026 below the general rate of inflation.
“The modest increase is necessary to support investments that allow us to continue to discover and deliver new medicines as well as address increased costs in our business,” the company said.
Bigger drug price increases in the United States were once much more common. Drugmakers have scaled back because of criticism from lawmakers and new government policies, such as penalizing companies that charge Medicare program prices that rise faster than inflation.
European drugmaker GSK plans to increase the prices of around 20 medicines and vaccines from 2% to 8.9%. The drugmaker said it is committed to reasonable prices and the increases are necessary to support scientific innovation.
Sanofi and Novartis did not respond to requests for comment.
More increases and decreases in prices can be expected in early January, which is historically the biggest month for drug producers to raise prices.
3 Axis is a consulting firm that works with pharmacist groups, health plans and some pharmaceutical industry related groups on drug pricing and supply chain issues. It is an entity related to, and shares staff with, the drug pricing nonprofit 46brooklyn.
(Reporting by Michael Erman; editing by Caroline Humer)