The public outcry over the high price of medicines did little to stop drugmakers from raising prices again for 2020.
Bloomberg notes that drug prices in the new year have increased an average of 5.3% industrywide. And among the biggest price hikes is the one for Humira, the best-selling arthritis medicine marketed by North Chicago-based Abbvie Inc. The price for Humira is going up by just over 7%.
In other Chicago-area business news:
Insuring your car with Geico is about to get more expensive, too.
Crain’s reports that the auto insurance giant is raising rates for most of its Illinois drivers by more than 3% on average beginning in March.
It’s Geico’s first rate hike in Illinois in two years. It will affect nearly 300,000 policyholders statewide.
And finally, Chicago’s real estate and construction industry is mourning the passing of one of its leaders: J. David Pepper, who for years led Pepper Construction, a Chicago company with more than 1,000 employees and annual sales topping $1 billion.
David Pepper was among the third generation of his family to work at the 92-year-old company. Among the firm’s highest-profile projects during his tenure was the contract to construct the giant Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Michigan Avenue as well as the massive revamp of Wrigley Field.
David Pepper was 59.
Crain’s Headlines is a joint production between WTTW and Crain’s Chicago Business. It airs every Monday through Thursday on the WTTW News program “Chicago Tonight.”