Drug companies raised list prices of 983 prescription drugs by an average of 5.6% in January, lower than inflation and lower than it has raised them in prior years. A report put out by 46brooklyn Research, a nonprofit drug-price analytics group, said that Pfizer Inc., Novartis AG and Eli Lilly & Company are among the companies that took the price increases. After several years of taking double digit prices on many drugs, the companies have moderated price increases, in part due to pressure from the government. “The industry doesn’t want to stick its neck out and make itself a target of politicians, particularly given the lessened support in the Republican Party for the industry compared to 5 or 10 years ago,” David Risinger, an SVB Securities analyst, told the Wall Street Journal.
