Medicare drug-price negotiations set for round 2

The news: Twelve pharma companies unanimously agreed to participate in the second round of Medicare drug price negotiations. Meanwhile, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) chief nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz told a Senate hearing committee he would “defend” and use the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to lower drug costs, per Endpoints News.

What’s at stake: 12 pharma companies’ 15 drugs, including popular GLP-1s Ozempic and Wegovy, will head into multiple rounds of CMS discussions to finalize prices by Nov. 1.

Negotiated prices wouldn’t take effect until 2027. The first round of 10 drug negotiations resulted in 38% to 79% reductions from list prices, per CMS.