Biden Admin Unveils List Of Drugs Subject To Medicare Price Negotiations

The Biden administration on Tuesday revealed a list of ten drugs subject to price negotiations between Medicare and major pharmaceutical companies.

Negotiations between drug manufacturers and Medicare will begin later in 2023, but the price changes will not go into effect until 2026 following negotiations, according to a White House fact sheet. The move is a part of the healthcare provision of the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law in August 2022 and gave Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices with the threat of companies being taxed up to 95% of U.S. sales if they walk away from negotiations.

“Today, my Administration announced the first 10 Medicare Part D drugs that have been selected for price negotiation—for the first time ever,” President Joe Biden said in a press release. “They are among the most common and costly prescriptions that treat everything from heart failure, blood clots, diabetes, arthritis, Crohn’s disease—and more. This is on top of progress we made in reducing the cost of insulin to $35 a month for seniors on Medicare.”

The ten drugs selected were Eliquis, Jardiance, Xarelto, Januvia, Farxiga, Entresto, Enbrel, Imbruvica, Stelara and Fiasp, according to the fact sheet.

Top pharmaceutical company Merck & Co., manufacturer of Januvia, sued the Biden administration in June, arguing that the price negotiation program violates the Fifth Amendment by taking private property without providing just compensation, as well as the First Amendment by requiring companies to “legitimize government extortion” and to participate in “political deception.”

Seven other lawsuits were filed to block the price negotiations, including from Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, according to Reuters.

The list includes drugs covering conditions like blood clots, diabetes, heart failure, arthritis, and blood cancers, according to the fact sheet. The ten drugs unveiled are among those with the greatest total spending in Medicare Part D.

The Biden administration claims that it will negotiate the prices for 60 drugs over the next four years, and an additional 20 drugs for every year after that, according to the fact sheet.