Medicare has began worth negotiations for 15 medicines, together with the diabetes drug Ozempic.
Mario Tama/Getty Photographs
cover caption
toggle caption
Mario Tama/Getty Photographs
As President Trump touts his personal govt orders to decrease drug costs, the Medicare drug worth negotiations begun in the course of the Biden administration are persevering with behind the scenes.
Two corporations – Novo Nordisk and Amgen – confirmed to NPR that they’d acquired opening worth presents from the federal government, kicking off bargaining that might final by way of October. The Division of Well being and Human Providers didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the standing of negotiations.
Medicare is negotiating the costs of 15 medicationtogether with Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic. The federal government has till Nov. 30 to announce the agreed-upon Medicare costs. The decrease costs would go into impact in January 2027.
“It is a practice that is form of shifting alongside the tracks within the background,” says Ben Romea doctor and well being coverage researcher at Harvard Medical Faculty. “And it looks as if the Trump administration has given the inexperienced gentle to type of proceed that course of.”
Medicare drug worth negotiation continues to be comparatively new. Till the 2022 passage of the Inflation Discount Act, Medicare half D, which covers greater than 50 million seniorsdid not have the authority to barter drug costs. That is the second spherical of annual bargaining.
“Except the Trump administration needs to form of completely disregard the directives of Congress, then this course of will proceed,” Rome says.
The primary batch of 10 medication was negotiated final 12 months and introduced in August with worth cuts starting from 79% for Sort 2 diabetes drug Januvia to 38% for most cancers drug Imbruvica. The decrease costs for these medication are anticipated to take impact in January 2026.
Neither Novo Nordisk nor Amgen, whose psoriasis and arthritis drug Otezla is up for negotiation, would touch upon the bargaining course of aside from to verify that they’d acquired opening presents.
On Might 12, the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Providers issued draft steering for the third spherical of negotiations, which is slated to start in early 2026. Rome says this motion is a transparent signal “the Trump administration plans to proceed this program,” though it started below the Biden administration.
President Trump has touted his personal drug worth initiatives, together with an govt order on most favored nation drug pricingwhich might search to decrease U.S. drug costs and power different nations to pay extra for his or her medication. Nonetheless, the small print of how this may work are unclear.
Venture 2025, a blueprint for altering the federal authorities by the conservative Heritage Basis that Trump has echoed in a lot of his actions, says Medicare drug worth negotiation “needs to be repealed.” Till that may occur “an Administration that’s required to implement it should accomplish that in a approach that’s prudent with its authority, minimizing the dangerous results of the regulation’s insurance policies and avoiding even worse unintended penalties,” it says.
