Major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Sanofi, and Takeda Pharmaceutical, plan to increase prices on over 500 drugs in the U.S. in January, anticipating the Biden Administration's release of discounted prices for high-cost drugs in September.

The industry is grappling with inflation and manufacturing costs, while concerns about supply chain disruptions from a prolonged Middle East conflict add further complexities. GlaxoSmithKline is expected to lower prices on 15 drugs, following its recent commitment to reducing prices on certain drugs for 2024. Some companies have already decreased insulin prices this year to avoid penalties under the American Rescue Plan Act. Despite inflation, drugmakers have generally limited increases to 10% or below, maintaining a trend since the last decade.

Pfizer leads with the most January price increases, accounting for over a quarter of planned hikes. Median price increases have hovered around 5% since 2019. In 2023, drugmakers raised prices on 1,425 drugs, a decrease from 2022. While established drug price increases have slowed, newly launched drug prices hit record levels in 2022, exceeding $220,000, reflecting a more than 20% increase since 2021.