PHARMACEUTICALS

There are pharmaceutical companies that are clearly out of control with unbelievably wild price increases.*  Now someone looked into which pharmaceutical companies exist on raising the prices of drugs:**

 Among the companies she identified as among the worst offenders over the past five years were Horizon Pharma (HZNP), where price boosts produced 63% of sales growth above the rate of inflation, Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ), where they accounted for 58% of sales gains, and Concordia International (CXRX), where they generated 51% of growth.

YET KNOWING which companies profited from jacking up prices isn’t enough to separate the winners from losers. Already, Horizon and Jazz have started shifting from business plans focused on higher prices to ones that rely on new products. Jazz, for instance, could get 36% of its revenue through 2020 from new drugs, including Defitelio, which treats blockages of blood vessels in the liver, and JZP-110, a narcolepsy treatment. Similarly, Horizon could get 45% of its growth from orphan drugs targeting rare illnesses. **

No doubt there are others.  Mylan and the generic Epi-Pin come to mind, for just one case.

* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/08/where-is-teddy-roosevelt-when-we-need.html
** http://www.barrons.com/articles/health-care-stocks-are-riskier-than-they-seem-1475300094?mod=BOL_hp_we_columns