Amgen Inc. AMGN, +0.59% raised the price of its Blincyto by 3.9% on Wednesday, according to Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.TEVA, -1.71% raised the price of its Treanda by 4.5% on Saturday. Both Blincyto and Treanda are leukemia drugs, while Treanda is also approved for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The recent increases follow a mid-January price hike for Blincyto and a Jan. 1 price increase for Treanda. Year-to-date, the drugs’ prices have increased by 8% and 7.6% respectively, Gal said.
These price increases refer to the wholesale acquisition cost (WAC), or the price a drugmaker offers middleman wholesalers, from which significant discounts and rebates are typically taken.
Yet “notice that in this segment, where rebates are uncommon, drug companies continue to price up at high single digits,” said Gal.
“This is the strongest data point for those who argue drug companies raise prices ‘because they can,” he said.
The recent increases follow a mid-January price hike for Blincyto and a Jan. 1 price increase for Treanda. Year-to-date, the drugs’ prices have increased by 8% and 7.6% respectively, Gal said.
These price increases refer to the wholesale acquisition cost (WAC), or the price a drugmaker offers middleman wholesalers, from which significant discounts and rebates are typically taken.
Yet “notice that in this segment, where rebates are uncommon, drug companies continue to price up at high single digits,” said Gal.
“This is the strongest data point for those who argue drug companies raise prices ‘because they can,” he said.