President Trump’s attacks on drugmakers for raising prices may be paying dividends, as fewer drugmakers raised prices in August, Wells Fargo said in a recent analysis.
“We believe August essentially shows that President Trump’s criticism might be working and have at least deterred some companies from raising prices in the near-term and ahead of the midterm elections,” the report concluded.
Some drugmakers had announced in July that they would avoid raising prices. Most notable was Pfizer, which initially had said that it would raise prices for 10 percent of its portfolio but then retreated after getting bashed by Trump on Twitter.
Sixty drug products saw price hikes in August, and 48 declined in price. In July, there were 110 increases and 32 declines, according to the report released last week and first reported by Axios on Monday.
Wells Fargo found that the average increase for drugs that rose in price was 53 percent. The drug with the biggest increase was the antidepressant Fluoxetine at 482 percent, an increase of $180.72. The antibiotic Nitrofurantoin also increased by 400 percent, a $1,917 hike.
“We note that the largest percentage price increases are not on exceptionally low priced products,” the analysis said.
The Trump administration has cited the examples of Pfizer and several other drugmakers as evidence their May blueprint is working. The blueprint included several reforms to Medicare to add private sector tools aimed at expanding negotiation for private plans on Medicare Part D, the program’s prescription drug plan.
But Democrats and critics have said that the blueprint is toothless since it does not do anything to prevent drugmakers from setting high initial list prices or raising prices.
Trump has sought to use his Twitter account to go after drug companies that are raising prices. So far some drug companies have held their fire, most notably Pfizer which held off on price hikes for nearly 40 products – but only until the end of the year.
Pharma giant Merck also lowered the price of a hepatitis C drug by 60 percent, but the drug already had zero sales in the first quarter of the year.
