Merck & Co. Inc.’s Januvia brand medication, used to treat Type 2 diabetes.
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Medicare is poised to directly negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry this fall for the first time in the program’s nearly six-decade history.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will unveil, no later than Sept. 1, the list of 10 drugs that it is targeting this year, an agency spokesperson said.
Though it is still unclear which 10 drugs Medicare will select, several pharmaceutical companies have already revealed in court filings that they expect four of their blockbuster medications to be targeted.
Merck‘s lawyers said the company’s Type 2 diabetes drug Januvia will be on the list, with its blockbuster cancer immune therapy treatment Keytruda to become a target in subsequent years.
Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson, in separate filings, said their blood thinners Eliquis and Xarelto will be subject to the negotiations this year. Abbvie said in its own filing that the company expects its blood cancer drug Imbruvica will also be a target in the fall.
These are the other six drugs that will likely be subject to negotiations this year, according to an analysis by the Journal of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy published in March:
- Jardiance, made by Boehringer Ingelheim, used to treat heart failure
- Enbrel, made by Amgen, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis
- Symbicort, made by AstraZeneca, used to treat asthma
- Ibrance, made by Pfizer, used to treat breast cancer
- Xtandi, made by Astellas Pharma, used to treat prostate cancer
- Breo Ellipta, made by GSK, used to manage pulmonary disease
Surge in list prices
The historic negotiations, established by the Inflation Reduction Act, are the cornerstone of the Biden administration’s efforts to slash drug costs.
The list price of Medicare’s top 25 drugs has more than tripled on average since they first entered the U.S. market, greatly exceeding the rate of inflation, according to an analysis published by AARP on Thursday.
AARP is a powerful lobbying group that advocates on behalf of people ages 50 and older. The group strongly supports the Medicare drug-price negotiation program.
The list price of Januvia has surged 275% since 2006, according to the AARP