Medicare revises guidance on drug price negotiations amid lawsuits
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The U.S. government on Friday revised its guidance on the Medicare drug price negotiation program as big pharma fights the newly introduced law in court.
The program was introduced late last year under President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, allowing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to negotiate drug prices for Medicare Part D beneficiaries for the first time in history.
The initial guidance released in March prompted drugmakers Merck (NYSE:MRK) and Bristol Myers (NYSE:BMY), as well as leading industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), to sue the government over its constitutionality.
With the revised guidance, Medicare has introduced changes to the programâs confidentiality policy, which was a key argument cited in the lawsuits. As part of other changes, the CMS will allow drugmakers and the public to engage with the agency during the negotiation process.
By September 1, 2023, Medicare is expected to finalize the first 10 Part D drugs that will be subject to negotiated prices in 2026.
Leading drugmakers: Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Merck (MRK), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), AstraZeneca (AZN), GSK (GSK), Sanofi (SNY) (OTCPK:SNYNF), Novo Nordisk (NVO), Abbott (ABT), AbbVie (ABBV), Gilead (GILD), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Biogen (BIIB), Amgen (AMGN) and Novartis (NVS) (OTCPK:NVSEF)
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