Biden administration unveils first drugs for Medicare price negotiations

The price-trading agenda, set by Democrats as part of the Cut Inflation Act, should save the government money tens of billions of dollars in the years to come.

VideoAfter his administration announced the first round of drugs selected for During Medicare pricing negotiations, President Biden pledged to continue to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry on drug costs.CreditCredit...Leigh Vogel for The New York Times

The Biden administration on Tuesday unveiled a long-awaited list of the first 10 drugs to be priced in Medicare negotiations, kicking off a historic program aimed at reducing spending on drugs, fought by the pharmaceutical industry in court.

The drugs – which treat diabetes, cancer and other diseases – are taken by millions of older Americans and cost Medicare billions of dollars each year. The Medicare and Medicaid Service Centers selected drugs through a process that prioritized those with the highest Medicare expenditures, which have been on the market for years and do not yet face competition from competitors. . Additional drugs will be selected for price negotiations in future years.

Drugs selected for price negotiations

1. Eliquis, to prevent strokes and blood clots, from Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer

2. Jardiance, for diabetes and heart failure, by Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly

3. Xarelto, to prevent strokes and blood clots, from Johnson & Johnson

4. Januvia, for diabetes, from Merck

5. Farxiga, for diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease, from AstraZeneca

6. Entresto, for heart failure, from Novartis

7. Enbrel, for arthritis and other autoimmune diseases, from Amgen

8. Imbruvica, for blood cancers, from AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson

9. Stellara, for Crohn's disease, from Johnson & Johnson

10. Fiasp and NovoLog insulin products, for diabetes, from Novo Nordisk

The list of drugs overlapped to some extent with what experts had expected. Its release was an important moment for Democrats, who campaigned on promises to lower the cost of prescription drugs. President Biden marked the occasion with remarks at the White House, a further sign of his intention to make cutting health care costs a theme of his 2024 re-election campaign.

"It takes time," Biden said after being introduced by a 71-year-old man from North Carolina who has a rare blood cancer and diabetes. The president attacked the pharmaceutical industry about the cost of drugs, its...