dr. Alexandra Sowa joins ‘Varney & Co.’ to discuss weight loss drugs becoming widely available and RFK Jr.’s efforts. to ban pharmaceutical television ads and processed foods.
Very desirable diabetes medications associated with weight loss made by Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk are among the drugs to be subject to price controls by Medicare.
On Friday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a second list of prescription drugs that are covered by Medicare Part D. The list has 15 drugs, advertised as an effort to reduce the financial burden for millions of patients who are 65 and older.
Includes weight loss and diabetes medications from Novo Nordisk Wegovy and Ozempicas well as Xtandi, Ibrance, Calquence and Pomalyst, drugs that treat prostate, breast, blood and bone marrow cancers. Price controls for recently selected drugs will come into force in 2027.
COALITION CALLS ON CONGRESS TO REPEAL BIDEN’S CONTROL OF PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES
Under Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law in 2022, Medicare was given authority to set lower prices for selected covered high-cost drugs.
While the IRA refers to “negotiations,” the bill’s text allows CMS to set a “maximum fair price” for a drug. The pharmaceutical company must then “come to an agreement” on the price. If they don’t, the government will set a daily excise tax on every medicine sold above the “maximum fair price”.
The move faced criticism from drugmakers, including Novo Nordisk, which told FOX Business it “remains opposed to the government’s IRA pricing and has significant concerns about how this administration is implementing the law, including bundling multiple products that would individually they do not meet the requirements of the statute.”
The company believes the pricing process could “negatively impact patients’ ability to access their medicines and threaten to stifle future scientific development of life-changing medicines for chronic diseases where there is a real unmet need.”
In October 2023, shortly after the first 10 drugs were announced, a coalition of more than 40 groups called on Congress to end the Drug Price Negotiation Program included in the IRA, arguing that the price control scheme it administers Biden administration will ultimately lead to drug shortages and higher costs.
Under the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare was given the authority to set lower prices for selected covered expensive drugs. (Photo by Andreas Arnold/picture alliance via Getty Images/Getty Images)
A coalition of more than 40 groups sent the letter to federal lawmakers shortly after the Biden administration released its first list of 10 drugs, which includes Merck’s diabetes drug Januvia, Johnson & Johnson’s blood thinner Xarelto, as well as Pfizer and Bristol Myers Squibb’s blood thinner Eliquis , in August 2023.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATOR NAMES TOP 10 DRUGS SUBJECT TO MEDICARE PRICE NEGOTIATIONS
According to the administration, about 5.3 million Medicare Part D beneficiaries used newly selected drugs for conditions such as cancer, type 2 diabetes and asthma between November 2023 and October 2024. During that time, the drugs accounted for about $41 billion, or 14%, of the total of Medicare Part D prescription costs.
The Biden administration released another list of prescription drugs that will be subject to price controls. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images/Getty Images)
“Last year we proved that negotiating lower drug prices works. Now we plan to build on that result by negotiating lower prices for 15 additional important medicines for the elderly,” said Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Social Services Xavier Becerra.
Becerra said the agency “will continue to negotiate in the best interest of people with Medicare so that they have access to innovative, life-saving treatments at lower prices.”
Pharmacist Tzofit Moskovich, left, works on a computer as Michelle Sorto, a senior pharmacy technician for Walgreen Co., sorts through files at a store in Oak Park, Illinois, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
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Here is the selected list of drugs for the second round of negotiations:
- Ozempic; Rybelsus; Wegovy
- Trelegy Ellipta
- Xtandi
- The little guy
- Ibrance
- Ofev
- Linzess
- Calquency
- Austedo; Austedo XR
- Breo Ellipta
- A tradition
- Xifaxan
- Vraylar
- Janumet; Janumet XR
- Otezla
