Drug prices are poised to climb in the new year on hundreds of medicines even as the Trump administration publicly leans on pharmaceutical companies to bring costs down. According to data from research firm 3 Axis Advisors, at least 350 brand-name drugs are set for list price increases in 2026, including COVID, RSV, and shingles vaccines, along with cancer drug Ibrance, Reuters reports. That's up from more than 250 drugs at this point last year. The median hike is about 4%, roughly in line with 2025, and doesn't factor in rebates or other discounts negotiated with insurers and pharmacy benefit managers.
Pfizer is planning the largest number of hikes—around 80 medicines—touching everything from its COVID treatment Paxlovid and migraine drug Nurtec to hospital staples like morphine. Most of its increases stay under 10%, though COVID vaccine Comirnaty will rise 15%, and some low-cost hospital drugs will jump more than fourfold. Pfizer and GSK both framed the adjustments as necessary to fund research and cover rising costs; GSK will lift prices on about 20 products by 2% to 8.9%. The deals President Trump negotiated with drug companies apply to Medicaid, not the commercial health plans that cover most Americans, the Hill notes.
Not every move is upward: List prices will fall on about nine drugs, including a cut of more than 40% for diabetes medication Jardiance and related treatments sold by Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly, Reuters reports. Jardiance is among the first 10 drugs to go through Medicare's new price negotiation, which led to a roughly two-thirds reduction for that program.
Dr. Benjamin Rome, a health policy researcher, tells Reuters that companies appear to be raising prices while negotiating deals with insurers behind the scenes and setting a different price for direct-to-consumer sales. The Trump administration's deals "are being announced as transformative when, in fact, they really just nibble around the margins in terms of what is really driving high prices for prescription drugs in the US," Rome says.
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