Pfizer likely to remove lid on drug price increases in January

Chairman and CEO Ian Read said Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) will likely end its agreement to defer drug price increases and return to "business as normal" by year end. Read's comments, which came during the pharma’s 3Q18 earnings conference call on Oct. 30, could suggest Pfizer does not expect the Trump administration to implement its drug pricing blueprint by year end, and make good on the de facto deadline Pfizer set for Trump in July.

"We did voluntarily agree to defer price increases until the blueprint was implemented or the end of this year," Read said. "We've been working with the president on parts of the blueprint. And I expect our approach by the end of year will be, what I would characterize as business as normal. We price to marketplace. We price competitively, and we will make those decisions towards the end of the year and early January."...