Vizient Forecasts a 3.35% Increase in Pharmaceutical Prices in 2026

Vizient has released its Summer 2025 Spend Management Outlook, and it is forecasting a “3.35% increase in pharmaceutical prices in 2026.” BusinessWire has the news.

Healthcare providers are seeing “increased usage in GLP-1 therapies, specialty medications, and high-cost cell and gene therapies. Supply chain prices in products, materials, and services are projected to rise 2.41%, led by IT services, capital equipment and surgical supplies.”

Specialty therapies, and particularly CAR-T cellular therapies, have emerged as “one of the dominant drivers of inpatient drug spend across all acquisition channels. These treatments…are used for complex conditions such as hematologic cancers.” Spend for GLP-1 medications, like Mounjaro and Zepbound, “surged by 167% in 2024 compared to 2023,” and the rise in these therapies in reducing obesity-related conditions may lead to a decline in “certain associated procedures, including those for hernias, pressure-related wounds, and soft tissue complications.”

Autoimmune and inflammatory therapies “have overtaken oncology as the top therapeutic class for the first time, now accounting for 24.83% of total wholesaler-based pharmacy spend among Vizient program participants. Immune globulin is now the number one drug by spend, with a 22% increase since January, driven by expanding use in pediatric and chronic disease segments.” Indirect spend, “encompassing non-clinical goods and services such as security, food services, information technology and construction,” is also expected to rise coming up.