NEW YORK, January 1, 2026, 06:48 ET — Market closed
- Pfizer shares were last down about 0.4% at $24.90 after hours, after closing near $25.00 on Wednesday.
- A report said Pfizer plans list-price increases on roughly 80 medicines in 2026, including a 15% hike for its COVID vaccine Comirnaty.
- Investors will watch for policy pushback and for Pfizer’s Feb. 3 quarterly results and 2026 outlook updates.
Pfizer Inc shares were last indicated slightly lower after hours on Wednesday after a report said the drugmaker plans to raise U.S. list prices on about 80 medicines in 2026. U.S. stock markets were closed on Thursday for the New Year’s Day holiday. (Reuters)
Why it matters now: January is the industry’s main reset point for annual drug pricing, and the moves land as Washington keeps drug costs in the political crosshairs. Investors often read fresh price actions as both a revenue lever and a regulatory risk flag.
The headline increases are “list prices” — the sticker price before rebates and discounts. Those rebates are negotiated largely by pharmacy benefit managers, middlemen that bargain on behalf of insurers and employers, so changes in list prices do not automatically translate into higher net revenue for manufacturers.
The report, citing data provided exclusively by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors, said drugmakers plan to raise prices on at least 350 branded medications for 2026. It pegged the median increase around 4%, and said the number of announced hikes is higher than at the same point a year earlier.
Pfizer announced the most list-price increases, spanning cancer drug Ibrance, migraine pill Nurtec, COVID treatment Paxlovid and some hospital-administered drugs such as morphine and hydromorphone, the report said. It said most of Pfizer’s increases are under 10%, but Comirnaty is set for a 15% rise, and some low-priced hospital drugs saw much larger percentage jumps.
Pfizer said its average list-price adjustments for 2026 are below the overall rate of inflation and framed the moves as funding for research and higher operating costs, according to the report.
Peers were also in the mix. The report said GSK plans increases on about 20 drugs and vaccines, while Sanofi and Novartis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The same dataset highlighted that some companies are cutting prices on a small set of drugs, including a more than 40% cut for Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly’s diabetes drug Jardiance. The report tied those cuts to U.S. government price negotiations for Medicare, the health program for people 65 and older.
Policy scrutiny remains the bigger swing factor for sentiment. “These deals are being announced as transformative when, in fact, they really just nibble around the margins,” said Dr. Benjamin Rome, a health policy researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, referring to recent pricing arrangements with the Trump administration cited in the report.
Pfizer shares were last down about 0.4% at $24.90 in after-hours indications, versus a regular-session close near $25.00. The stock traded between roughly $24.88 and $25.19 in the latest session.
U.S. equities resume trading on Friday after the New Year’s Day closure, according to the NYSE holiday calendar. ( NYSE)
Before the next session, investors are likely to watch for any fresh administration or health-agency commentary on list-price increases, and for whether drug-pricing headlines widen beyond Pfizer to the broader pharma group. The report said more price hikes and cuts can be expected in early January, historically the busiest month for changes.
Traders will also weigh how much of the list-price action is offset by rebates — and how much falls on uninsured or cash-paying patients, where list prices can matter most. The political sensitivity there has been rising as Medicare price negotiations and inflation-linked penalties tighten the industry’s room to maneuver.
The next major Pfizer-specific catalyst is earnings. Pfizer has said it will issue its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 performance report on Feb. 3, followed by a conference call with analysts that morning. ( Pfizer)
