Drug prices 'inflated'

Published: 17-May-2002


Several drugs companies have been inflating revenue through frequent price increases, according to an analysis by UBS Warburg. The study tracked price increases and inventory levels from last autumn and found that firms were informing wholesalers of forthcoming price changes, leading distributors to buy medicines ahead of the price increases.

Schering-Plough's earnings could have been 14% lower last year if wholesalers had reduced their inventories to a normal level.

'While a company can play this game for several quarters, it is likely to catch up with them over time,' wrote the analysts. Not all companies use the practice. UBS said that Pfizer and Eli Lilly's wholesalers carried lower-than-average inventories.

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