Statement from Margarida Jorge, head of Lower Drug Prices Now – the leading campaign fighting to lower prescription drug prices – in response to news that prescription drug corporations will raise prices on over 500 prescription drugs in the first half of 2024:

“Drug manufacturers routinely raise their prices—often by more than inflation rates—twice a year. It’s a regular reminder to lawmakers and consumers that we need comprehensive reforms to rein in the drug corporations’ monopoly control over pricing. So long as the corporations can unilaterally raise their prices anytime they want, by any amount they want, medicines will be unaffordable for millions of Americans who need them to manage their health.  Meanwhile, drug profits will continue to soar.  

We’re already making progress in Medicare thanks to the new Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) reforms that penalize drug companies from raising their prices faster than inflation and that will finally require drug corporations to negotiate prices with Medicare for the first time. Lawmakers should expand these reforms to lower costs for hundreds of millions of people who don’t yet qualify for Medicare.”