Expensive Drugs Targeted for First U.S. Price Negotiations

livemint.com:

Medicare, taking aim at some of the most widely used and costliest medicines in America. At stake is arguably the government’s strongest effort to date to tackle high drug costs—if drugmakers can’t persuade courts to scuttle the negotiating powers that Medicare was granted last year. On the list of targeted medicines announced by the Biden administration Tuesday are treatments for cancer, diabetes and heart disease that can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year or more, including blood thinner Eliquis and diabetes treatment Jardiance.

Medicare spent $50.5 billion on the drugs last year, JPMorgan Chase estimates. “This is a major step toward reducing drug spending," said Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine who studies drug costs. Lawmakers seeking to address high and increasing drug costs had spent years trying to authorize government negotiations.

President Biden said the administration wouldn’t back down from the court fights with industry opponents in its effort to deliver more affordable medicines. “We pay more for prescription drugs than any other economy in the world," he said. Lower prices would take effect in 2026.

Medicare, the government health-insurance program for seniors and some people with disabilities, would save an estimated $25 billion a year by 2031. The savings will mostly go to Medicare because it pays the bulk of the cost of the drugs. The reductions might not directly affect the price patients pay at the pharmacy counter, though some seniors taking pricey cancer drugs might wind up paying less out of their own pockets.