Pfizer price hikes may bring industry scrutiny, says Wells Fargo. Pfizer's (PFE) plans to raise prices on a host of medicines may put the drug industry "further in the crosshairs of an administration and Congress that is set on lowering drug prices," Wells Fargo analyst David Maris tells investors in a research note. The analyst points out that Pfizer earlier this year was criticized by the Trump administration for drug price increases, and as a result, it rolled the price increases back. However, Pfizer's new price increases "are not egregious" and its advance warning may be an attempt to see if minor price increases will also bring the administration's rebuke, says Maris. Nonetheless, given how public the administration's previous rebuke was, the analyst thinks Pfizer's confirmation Friday could "enflame the debate around drug pricing, especially since it comes less than two weeks following an election that resulted in Democrat control of the House with many having run on a drug-price-controls/Medicare-for-All platforms." Other large drugmakers include AstraZeneca (AZN), Bristol-Myers (BMY), Eli Lilly (LLY), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Merck (MRK), Novartis (NVS), Roche (RHHBY) and Sanofi (SNY).
