Pfizer and GSK raise prices to boost revenues

According to data collected by Thomson, the Toronto-based financial-information provider, the companies raised their US wholesale prices by 9% on their 10 top-selling medicines in 2007, more than twice the 4.2% rise in the US consumer price index.

Industry experts opine that but for the price hike, Pfizer would have incurred a sharp decline in its revenues in 2007. GSK also benefited from the price hike as it kept its US sales from dropping more than 10%. But industry experts believe that raising prices is a short term strategy and if continued for long, may hurt the prospects of the global drug majors.