Republicans and Big Drug Companies Vow to Stop Medicare from Negotiating Raising Drug Prices for Millions of Seniors
Washington, DC – This morning, the Biden-Harris administration announced the next 15 drugs whose prices will come down as Medicare continues to negotiate with the drug companies. The news comes as drugmakers and their GOP allies continue working to ban negotiations in order to protect drug company profits and raise drug costs for seniors. Drugmakers spent $400 million on lobbyists to oppose negotiations and they are fighting in the courts and alongside Republicans to stop negotiations.
The Medicare drug negotiation program will lower prices for some of the highest-priced prescription drugs with the first round of negotiated prices set to go into effect in 2026. In the first year, the negotiated prices cut list prices by up to 79 percent, saving seniors an estimated $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs and taxpayers $6 billion. The second set of drugs up for negotiation cost Medicare over $40 billion between November 2023 and October 2024 alone. Similar to the first round, these drugs are used to treat conditions like cancer, asthma, and diabetes – conditions that disproportionately impact women, communities of color, and people in rural areas.
The second round of drugs under the Medicare Drug Negotiation Program include:
- Ozempic, Rybelsus, and Wegovy which are sold by Novo Nordisk to treat type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease and relied on by over 2.2 million people on Medicare
- Trelegy Ellipta which is sold by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to treat asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and relied on by over 1.2 million people on Medicare
- Linzess which is sold by AbbVie to treat gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome and relied on by 627,000 people on Medicare
- Breo Ellipta which is sold by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to treat asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and relied on by 634,000 people on Medicare
- Tradjenta which is sold by Boehringer Ingelheim to treat type II diabetes and relied on by 278,000 people on Medicare
- Janumet and Janumet XR which are sold by Merck to treat type II diabetes relied on by 243,000 people on Medicare
- Vraylar which is sold by AbbVie to treat depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia and relied on by 116,000 people on Medicare
- Xtandi which is sold by Astellas to treat prostate cancer and relied on by 35,000 people on Medicare
- Ibrance which is sold by Pfizer to treat breast cancer and relied on by 16,000 people on Medicare
- Calquence which is sold by AstraZeneca to treat blood cancers like multiple myeloma and Kaposi sarcoma and relied on by 15,000 people on Medicare
- Xifaxan which is sold by Salix to treat diarrhea, hepatic encephalopathy, and irritable bowel syndrome bacterial infections and relied on by 104,000 people on Medicare
- Austedo which is sold by Teva to treat neurological diseases like tardive dyskinesia and Huntington’s disease and relied on by 26,000 people on Medicare
- Ofev which is sold by Boehringer Ingelheim to treat chronic lung disease and relied on by 24,000 people on Medicare
- Pomalyst which is sold by Bristol Myers Squibb to treat blood cancers and relied on by 14,000 people on Medicare
- Otezla which is sold by Amgen to treat plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers and relied on by 31,000 people on Medicare
Overall, the Inflation Reduction Act is saving Americans thousands of dollars by giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug costs, capping out-of-pocket prescription costs at $2,000, and penalizing drug companies for raising prices faster than inflation. Negotiating lower prices is overwhelmingly popular across the country, but Republicans are threatening to hike prescription drug prices in order to line the pockets of big drug companies and their CEOs. Every Republican voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, and now they’re trying to repeal it.
Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach issued the following statement:
“President Biden is leaving office on a high note. By announcing the second round of negotiated drugs, President Biden is taking another critical step to lower drug prices for millions of Americans. Medicare negotiations and other cost-saving measures under the Inflation Reduction Act are giving seniors long-overdue relief and saving taxpayers billions of dollars. Our nation’s seniors depend on these savings so they don’t have to choose between filling their prescriptions and filling their refrigerators.
“However, all these savings are now at risk. Donald Trump and his GOP allies are once again cuddling up with big drug companies, promising to take away Medicare’s power to negotiate lower drug prices, which would raise costs for hardworking families in order to line the pockets of shareholders and CEOs. During Trump’s first term, he let drug companies run wild and charge whatever they wanted, and he’s given every indication that he wants to do it again. The American people have made it clear they want lower costs, and it’s up to Republicans to put people over profits.”