Money Research Collective’s editorial team solely created this content. Opinions are their own, but compensation and in-depth research determine where and how companies may appear. Many featured companies advertise with us. How we make money.
Drugmakers Just Hiked Prices for Over 500 Medicines
By Pete Grieve MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
Find out if your prescriptions are affected.
Pharmaceutical companies just raised list prices for over 500 medicines, including Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, Gilead’s HIV-1 treatment Biktarvy and Genentech’s hemophilia A medication Hemlibra.
Drugmakers typically increase prices in the U.S. every January, according to 46brooklyn Research, a nonprofit group that analyzes drug prices. And although this month’s price hikes are comparable with those in recent years, consumers and insurance companies will likely feel the impact.
“For patients in high-deductible health plans or who have cost sharing arrangements that are based on the list price, the increases will hit them,” Antonio Ciaccia, CEO of 46brooklyn, writes in an email to Money.
The median increase among medicines with a price hike was about 4% for 2025. That’s actually slightly below the typical increases from 2019 to 2024, which ranged from 4.5% to 5%. Of all the January 2025 price changes so far recorded, only seven have been price decreases.
The list price is the full “sticker” price of a medicine before any discounts. Insurance companies then negotiate discounts and rebates on drug prices, which means their net price — what they actually pay — is typically less than the list price.
Still, Ciaccia says, a list price increase can lead to a higher cost for insurance companies, depending on the competitive landscape of the particular drug.
In other cases, drug companies may increase list prices to be able to offer larger rebates, making their medicines eligible for government programs like Medicaid. “For government programs, these price increases could actually yield increased rebates (that even eclipse the value of the increase itself),” Ciaccia says.
The high cost of prescription drugs is a constant topic of discussion in the U.S., as studies have shown that Americans spend far more on medications than people in other countries.
Representatives in Washington offer differing views about what’s wrong with the drug pricing systems in the U.S. Democrats have criticized big pharmaceutical companies for their exorbitant drug prices, arguing that firms aiming to maximize profits have prioritized payouts to investors and executives over research and development. Republicans tend to blame high costs on powerful pharmacy benefit managers, which are middlemen between drugmakers and insurers.
Notable prescription drug price increases for 2025
Pfizer shows up in 46brookyn’s database of drug price increases more than any other drugmaker, with 67 price increases. Other large pharmaceutical companies including GSK, Bausch, Gilead and Bayer each increased prices for at least 10 products.
Here are 10 of the largest and most impactful prescription drug prices, highlighted by 46brooklyn:
- Collegium’s Nucynta oral tablet — 15% list price increase
- Bausch’s Aplenzin oral tablet, extended release — 9.9%
- Genentech’s Hemlibra solution for injection — 8%
- Harmony’s Wakix oral tablet — 7%
- Almirall’s Aczone topical gel — 6.1%
- Gilead’s Biktarvy oral tablet — 5.9%
- Entasis’s Xacduro powder for solution for injection — 5.1%
- BioMarin’s Palynziq solution for injection — 4.6%
- Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic solution for injection — 3%
- Boehringer Ingelheim’s Jardiance oral tablet — 3%
More from Money:
Have Medical Debt? Your Credit Score Could Increase Under New Policy
These 9 States Are Cutting Income Taxes in 2025
Pete Grieve is a New York-based reporter who covers personal finance news. At Money, Pete covers trending stories that affect Americans’ wallets on topics including car buying, insurance, housing, credit cards, retirement and taxes. He studied political science and photography at the University of Chicago, where he was editor-in-chief of The Chicago Maroon. Pete began his career as a professional journalist in 2019. Prior to joining Money, he was a health reporter for Spectrum News in Ohio, where he wrote digital stories and appeared on TV to provide coverage to a statewide audience. He has also written for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Sun-Times and CNN Politics. Pete received extensive journalism training through Report for America, a nonprofit organization that places reporters in newsrooms to cover underreported issues and communities, and he attended the annual Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in 2021. Pete has discussed his reporting in interviews with outlets including the Columbia Journalism Review and WBEZ (Chicago's NPR station). He’s been a panelist at the Chicago Headline Club’s FOIA Fest and he received the Institute on Political Journalism’s $2,500 Award for Excellence in Collegiate Reporting in 2017. An essay he wrote for Grey City magazine was published in a 2020 book, Remembering J. Z. Smith: A Career and its Consequence.