Biden says that all 10 drugs targeted for the first Medicare price negotiations will participate

abcnews.go.com:

President Joe Biden has announced that the manufacturers of all of the first 10 prescription drugs selected for Medicare’s first price negotiations have agreed to participate

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that the manufacturers of all of the first 10 prescription drugs selected for Medicare's first price negotiations have agreed to participate, clearing the way for talks that could lower their costs in coming years and give him a potential political win heading into next year's election.

The drugs include the blood thinner Eliquis, which the White House said was used by more than 3.7 million Medicare enrollees from June of last year through this past May and had an average out-of-pocket cost of $608 per enrollee for 2022. Also included is diabetes treatment Jardiance, which was used by nearly 1.6 million Medicare enrollees and had a 2022 out-of-pocket cost per enrollee of $490.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced in August the first 10 drugs selected for the negotiation process and said manufacturers had until Monday to agree to participate and submit manufacturer-specific data. In all last year, 9 million seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries paid more than $3.4 billion on these 10 drugs alone, the White House said.

“For decades, drug companies in America made record profits while big pharma worked to block Medicare from being able to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors. In fact, Americans now pay two to three times more than people in other countries for the exact same prescription drug made by the exact same company,” Biden said in an online video from the Oval Office. «So, my administration finally took a step to change that.»

How much prices could fall is not yet