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don't forget Novartis' Tasigna at  $120,000 a year!  sure is discouraging

-----Original Message----- 
From: Kathleen Cochran
Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2016 7:01 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fwd: Pfizer hikes U.S. prices for over 100 drugs on January 1 
(Reuters 1/8/16)

Happy New Year from Pfizer

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 8 January 2016 at 19:10
Subject: Pfizer hikes U.S. prices for over 100 drugs on January 1 (Reuters
1/8/16)




REUTERS/CARLO ALLEGRI
The Pfizer World Headquarters is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New
York, November 24, 2015.

Pfizer hikes U.S. prices for over 100 drugs on January 1

*BY DEENA BEASLEY*
Fri Jan 8, 2016 5:02pm EST

Pfizer Inc (PFE.N
<http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=PFE.N>), which plans
a $160 billion merger with Ireland-based Allergan Plc (AGN.N
<http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=AGN.N>) to slash its
U.S. tax bill, on Jan. 1 raised U.S. prices for more than 100 of its drugs,
some by as much as 20 percent, according to statistics compiled by global
information services company Wolters Kluwer.

Pfizer confirmed a 9.4 percent increase for heavily advertised pain drug
Lyrica, which generated $2.3 billion in 2014 U.S. sales; a 12.9 percent
increase for erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, which had 2014 U.S. sales of
$1.1 billion; and a 5 percent increase for Ibrance, a novel breast cancer
drug launched last year at a list price of $9,850 per month, or $118,200
per year.

Company spokesman Steven Danehy could not immediately confirm the remaining
price increases, which were compiled by a unit of Wolters Kluwer Health and
published in a research note by UBS Securities.

U.S. lawmakers, and presidential candidates, have in recent months stepped
up criticism of U.S. drug prices trends, driven in part by eye-popping
price hikes from companies with recently acquired generic drugs.

UBS said Pfizer increased prices by 20 percent for anticonvulsant
Dilantin, hormone
therapy Menest, angina drug Nitrostat, Tykosyn for irregular
heartbeat, and antibiotic
Tygacil.

The analyst report said U.S. prices were raised on a total of 105 Pfizer
drugs. No price reductions were reported.

Pfizer is by no means the only drugmaker to raise prices. Research firm
Truveris found that U.S. prescription drug prices rose 10.9 percent in 2014,
including a 15 percent increase for brand-name products.

The planned Pfizer/Allergan deal, which would create the world's largest
drugmaker and shift Pfizer's headquarters to Ireland, would also be
the biggest-ever
instance of a U.S. company re-incorporating overseas to lower its taxes.
U.S. President Barack Obama has called such inversion deals unpatriotic and
has tried to crack down on the practice.

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton pledged to propose
measures to prevent such deals. The merger was also slammed by her rival
Senator Bernie Sanders as well as by Republican presidential candidate
Donald Trump.

Pfizer, which will report its 2015 earnings February 2, posted
biopharmaceutical revenue of $45.7 billion in 2014, including U.S. sales of
$17.2 billion.

Also in 2014 the company, currently headquartered in New York, spent $8.4
billion on research and development, $14.1 billion on sales, informational
and administrative costs, including advertising, and nearly $12 billion to
buy back its shares and pay dividends to shareholders.

(Reporting By Deena Beasley)

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