J&J says its average drug price hikes were 3.5% in 2016

US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has released a  2016 US Transparency Report that includes information on pricing and other business practices, covering everything from discovery to the commercialization of pharmaceuticals.

"Our hope is that this report will address questions people may have, and that it will lead to more discussion about how we can work together to move toward a more value-based healthcare system - one that delivers what we all want: greater access to care at a more manageable cost, and, most importantly, better health for us all,"says Jennifer Taubert, company group chairman, The Americas, Pharmaceuticals.

J&J says discounts and rebates on its medicines in 2016 amounted to about $11 billion in the USA, or a discount rate of 35 percent off the list price. The net increase in the cost of its medicines, of 3.5% across its portfolio, is lower than the 4.1% rate of medical inflation in the USA last year, the company contends.