Pharma is having one of those years

Spare a thought for the multinational drug maker in your life.

It has been a painful earnings season for the biggest names in pharma, with missed targets, disappointing outlooks, and a prevailing sense that 2019 is just generally going to be a drag.

Raising drug prices, pharma’s time-honored means of boosting revenue, just isn’t working anymore. According to the latest data, the growth of list prices — the ones that don’t reflect rebates — is down year over year. And net prices — the ones that do reflect rebates — grew about in line with inflation in 2018.

That’s in part why pharma’s 2019 sales forecasts have been poorly received by Wall Street. But, adding to the industry’s frustration, pharma's financial situation is unlikely to resonate in Washington.

The Democrats who now run the House have vowed to hold the drug business to account for its price increases, regardless of whether those increases no longer make the industry much money, leaving pharma in the unenviable position of answering for an unpopular practice that isn’t even that lucrative anymore.