Let the negotiating begin!
The Biden administration is sending its initial offers to the drugmakers participating in the historic first round of Medicare drug price negotiations on Thursday.
The move kicks off six months of discussions between the manufacturers and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It comes as President Joe Biden is seeking to tout his efforts to lower drug prices ahead of the November presidential election and as the pharmaceutical companies attempt to halt the negotiation process in court.
“For the first time in history, Medicare is making offers on the fair price for 10 of the most widely used and expensive drugs,” Biden said in a statement. “Medicare is no longer taking whatever prices for these drugs that the pharmaceutical companies demand.”
Negotiations will take place between now and August 1. The agreed-upon maximum fair prices will be made public by September 1 and take effect in 2026.
The first 10 drugs are Eliquis, Jardiance, Xarelto, Januvia, Farxiga, Entresto, Enbrel, Imbruvica and Stelara, as well as Fiasp and certain other insulins made by Novo Nordisk, including NovoLog. The medications, which treat heart disease, certain cancers, diabetes and autoimmune diseases, among other conditions, cost Medicare $46.5 billion and enrollees $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs in 2022.
The drugmakers – which include Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen division, Novo Nordisk and AstraZeneca, among others – and industry groups have filed multiple lawsuits in federal courts across the US in hopes of stopping the effort. They each contend that the program is unconstitutional in various ways.
Several have said they were essentially forced to participate or otherwise face steep penalties or…
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