Drug manufacturers increased the list prices of at least 250 brand-name medications as of Jan. 1 as the future of the pharmaceutical industry remains uncertain under the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump and its populist healthcare priorities. 

The median rise for the products on the list is 4.5%, according to a Reuters analysis, with most increasing well below 10%. Drugs seeing price hikes include Pfizer’s COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid, Bristol Myers Squibb’s cancer therapies, and several vaccines from the French company Sanofi.

PETE HEGSETH PENTAGON PICK IS CONTROVERSIAL, BUT HIS RESUME IS MORE THAN JUST FOX NEWS HOST

Annual drug price increases used to be more common, but drugmakers began scaling back price hikes in the mid-2010s after receiving significant scrutiny.

Drugs launched in 2023 had original list prices 35% higher than they did in 2022, according to the analysis.

Drug price and pharmaceutical industry reforms remain a key portion of the Republican and Democrat agendas heading into 2025 and could be a point of bipartisan agreement.

Reforms for pharmacy benefits managers, or PBMs, that intended to make the drug pricing middleman more transparent were cut from the continuing resolution bill passed in December to avoid a government shutdown before the Christmas holiday. 

GOP SENATORS VOICE RESERVATIONS ABOUT RFK JR.’S VIEWS ON ABORTION AND AGRICULTURE

PBMs are organizations that negotiate rebates between pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies and insurers, determining which medications are covered under health plans. 

These groups came under heavy fire from both parties in Congress last term. Lawmakers worked toward legislation aimed at increasing price transparency and changing the industry’s compensation structure to decouple PBM profits from higher drug prices. 

The provisions that were ultimately cut from the continuing resolution could receive new support in the 119th Congress, which starts on Jan. 3. 

Also on the chopping block this incoming Congress are the Medicare prescription drug pricing provisions of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which, among other things, allows for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies on the price of select drugs for Medicare patients.

There are several ongoing lawsuits against the Medicare drug price negotiation program, with companies arguing that the law is unconstitutional, but some Republican leaders in Congress are also in favor of using the incoming GOP trifecta to repeal these Biden-era statutes.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Key health officials nominated for leadership in Trump’s Cabinet could also wield significant regulatory power over prescription drug pricing. 

These figures include Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his pick for Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, Dr. Martin Makary, both of whom are staunch critics of the close ties between government regulators and the pharmaceutical industry.