Drug price hikes a tried-and-true strategy for who's who of Big Pharma

08 October 2015

Carly Helfand / FiercePharma

Pharma watchers know that price increases on drugs are a common occurrence. So why has it taken until now for one of pharma's go-to strategies to spark public outcry? For starters, neither doctors nor patients usually have a good sense of a drug's wholesale price, The Wall Street Journal notes. So while normally high prices curb demand, the fact that prescription drugs are ordered, used and paid for by three different parties "confuses incentives and dampens the normal economic dynamics," Sara Fisher Ellison, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist, told the newspaper.

As lawmakers and presidential candidates continue their assault on the practice, though, people are paying more attention, and companies are finding themselves in the spotlight. Yesterday, we went through some of the 56 upward price moves Valeant has made so far this year; here are a few other companies that may find it increasingly difficult to fly under the radar with their price hikes.

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