Medicare has began worth negotiations for 15 medicines, together with the diabetes drug Ozempic.
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Mario Tama/Getty Photographs
As President Trump touts his personal govt orders to decrease drug costs, the Medicare drug worth negotiations begun throughout the Biden administration are persevering with behind the scenes.
Two firms – Novo Nordisk and Amgen – confirmed to NPR that that they had acquired opening worth gives from the federal government, kicking off bargaining that would final by October. The Division of Well being and Human Companies didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the standing of negotiations.
Medicare is negotiating the costs of 15 medication, together 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 prepare that is type of transferring alongside the tracks within the background,” says Ben Rome, a doctor and well being coverage researcher at Harvard Medical Faculty. “And it looks as if the Trump administration has given the inexperienced gentle to sort 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 seniors, did not have the authority to barter drug costs. That is the second spherical of annual bargaining.
“Until the Trump administration desires to type 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 Kind 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 substantiate that that they had acquired opening gives.
On Could 12, the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies issued draft steerage 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,” despite the fact that it started beneath the Biden administration.
President Trump has touted his personal drug worth initiatives, together with an govt order on most favored nation drug pricing, which might search to decrease U.S. drug costs and pressure different international locations to pay extra for his or her medication. Nonetheless, the small print of how this might work are unclear.
Challenge 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 “ought to be repealed.” Till that may occur “an Administration that’s required to implement it should accomplish that in a manner that’s prudent with its authority, minimizing the dangerous results of the legislation’s insurance policies and avoiding even worse unintended penalties,” it says.
