After benefitting from GOP tax cuts, pharmaceutical companies raising drug prices

Pharmaceuticals companies may have received billions of dollars in tax breaks as a result of the 2017 GOP tax overhaul but that hasn’t stopped them from raising drug prices.

According to a new report from Reuters, Pfizer will raise the price of its breast cancer pill Ibrance by five percent and of its pneumococcal disease vaccine Prevnar by over seven percent. Merck will raise prices on roughly 15 of the drugs it produces, including Januvia and Janumet, which are used to treat diabetes.

Pfizer and Merck, along with Johnson & Johnson and Abbott Laboratories, have collectively reaped $7 billion in tax savings due to the GOP tax overhaul.

Since 2008, Sen. Susan Collins, who cast a critical vote to pass the Republican tax plan, has received thousands of dollars in donations from those same four companies.

Maine’s senior senator has been criticized by local health care advocates for taking money from these companies while pursuing a ‘Band-Aid’ approach to spiking insulin costs.

“It’s time Susan Collins starts listening to Mainers who just can’t afford to keep paying more for prescription drugs,” said Willy Ritch, executive director of the grassroots advocacy campaign 16 Counties, in a press release. “Instead of voting for huge tax cuts for drug companies, she should support real, meaningful reforms that will lower drug prices for Maine families.”

The cost of prescription drugs has soared in recent years, with Americans paying more for drugs than residents of other wealthy countries. In Maine, over a third of residents stopped taking their prescribed medications in 2017 due to cost, according to a 2019 report from the AARP, as drug prices in the state skyrocketed by almost 60 percent between 2012 and 2017.

In December, the U.S. House passed a prescription drug bill that would allow Medicare to bargain down drug prices. The bill has not yet been taken up by the Senate. Collins has voiced support for a competing bill that advocates worry may lead to lower safety standards for drug manufacturers.

Photo: Outside Pfizer headquarters in New York City. | Spencer Platt, Getty.