The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Jan. 17 that it has selected the next 15 drugs to undergo Medicare drug price negotiations with pharmaceutical companies, as the federal government seeks to lower soaring medical costs for Americans.
The drugs are relied upon by millions of seniors across the country to treat an array of conditions such as asthma, cancer, and diabetes, and accounted for roughly $41 billion in total gross covered prescription drug costs under Medicare Part D between Nov. 1, 2023, and Oct. 31, 2024, HHS said.
According to HHS, negotiations with participating drug companies will take place in 2025, with any negotiated prices going into effect for people with Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage in 2027.
Negotiations will be led by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
The latest negotiations are made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in 2022, which gave Medicare the power to negotiate prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.
Medicare covers around 66 million people across the nation.
“Last year we proved that negotiating for lower drug prices works,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Now we plan to build on that record by negotiating for lower prices for 15 additional important drugs for seniors.”
The drugs up for negotiation are:
- Ozempic, Rybelsus, Wegovy: Used for weight loss and to treat Type 2 diabetes.
- Trelegy Ellipta: An asthma treatment.
- Xtandi: Used for prostate cancer.
- Pomalyst: A chemotherapy drug used for Kaposi’s sarcoma and multiple myeloma.
- Ibrance: A breast cancer drug.
- Ofev: Used for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
- Linzess: Used to treat chronic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation.
- Calquence: A cancer drug used in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and mantle cell lymphoma.
- Austedo, Austedo XR: Used for Huntington’s disease and tardive dyskinesia.
- Breo Ellipta: A chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma drug.
- Tradjenta: Used to treat Type 2 diabetes.
- Xifaxan: Used for diarrhea and irritable bowel syndrome.
- Vraylar: An antipsychotic drug used to treat bipolar I disorder, major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia.
- Janumet, Janumet XR: Diabetes drugs.
- Otezla: Used for oral ulcers in Behçet’s disease, plaque psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis.
Prices Slashed for 10 Top-Selling Drugs
The HHS said in August 2024 that it had successfully negotiated lower prices for 10 of the most expensive and widely used drugs covered under Medicare.They included expensive and frequently dispensed medications in the Medicare program used to treat conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, such as Merck & Co’s diabetes drug Januvia and Novo Nordisk’s insulin aspart products.
HHS said at the time that the newly negotiated prices would take effect in 2026 and are expected to save the Medicare program $6 billion in the first year and reduce out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries by $1.5 billion.
Some drugmakers, including AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Johnson & Johnson have voiced opposition to the new discounts and argued they will not necessarily lower out-of-pocket costs for patients.
In a statement announcing the latest negotiations, President Joe Biden said the 15 new drugs to be negotiated, together with the 10 drugs that Medicare already negotiated, represent roughly a third of Medicare Part D spending on prescription drugs.
This, Biden said, means the lower prices being delivered by the Inflation Reduction Act “will put money back in seniors’ pockets across the country.”
He touted the legislation for putting the United States on a path to lower drug prices at a time of soaring costs.
HHS, through CMS, will select up to 15 more drugs to have their prices slashed during a third cycle of negotiations with manufacturers in 2027, followed by up to 20 drugs each year after that, as outlined in the Inflation Reduction Act.
