By the Numbers: The Ten Costly Drugs That Are Now Eligible to Have Lower Prices Negotiated by Medicare

Big Drug Companies Have Made $493 Billion in Revenue on These Drugs, Which Account For Nearly $174 Billion in Medicare Spending¹

Today, the Biden administration announced the first ten prescription drugs eligible for Medicare negotiation under the Inflation Reduction Act. The extremely popular Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program will save seniors and taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. Not surprisingly, now big drug companies and their mega lobbying groups are raising bogus arguments and going to court to stop the negotiation program.

Drugmakers of the Ten Eligible Drugs Have Made Tens of Billions In Revenue From Medicare and Other Sources While Spending Billions on Stock Buybacks and Lobbying.

• Eliquis, a drug used to treat blood clots manufactured by Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer, has cost Medicare over $41 billion through 2021. Meanwhile, the two companies have executed more than $97 billion in stock buybacks while bringing in nearly $91 billion in global sales and spending over $172 million on lobbying since launch.

• Januvia, a type 2 diabetes drug manufactured by Merck, has cost Medicare around $28 billion through 2021. Meanwhile, Merck has executed more than $52 billion in stock buybacks while bringing in nearly $51 billion in global sales and spending more than $115 million on lobbying since launch.

• Xarelto, a blood clot drug manufactured by Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Bayer, has cost Medicare more than $25.1 billion through 2021. Meanwhile, the manufactures have transacted around $54 billion in stock buybacks while bringing in just under $56 billion in global sales and spending $175 million on lobbying since launch.

• Fiasp, a diabetes drug also known as NovoLog manufactured by Novo Nordisk, has cost Medicare more than $24.8 billion through 2021. Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk has initiated at least $33 billion in stock buybacks while bringing in around $38.6 billion in global sales and spending more than $132 million on lobbying since launch.

• Enbrel, an immunosuppressant drug manufactured by Amgen, has cost Medicare more than $19.2 billion through 2021. Meanwhile, Amgen has executed around $89 billion in stock buybacks while bringing in around $82 billion in global sales and spending $213.6 million on lobbying since launch.

• Imbruvica, a leukemia drug manufactured by AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson, has cost Medicare more than $13.6 billion through 2021. Meanwhile, the two manufacturers have transacted around $90 billion in stock buybacks while bringing in more than $54.5 billion in global sales and spending around $130 million on lobbying since launch.

• Jardiance, a type 2 diabetes drug manufactured by Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly, has cost Medicare more than $8.6 billion through 2021. Meanwhile, Eli Lilly has transacted nearly $13 billion in stock buybacks while the two companies have collectively brought in over $26.8 billion in global sales and spent more than $98 million on lobbying since launch.

• Farxiga, a diabetes, heart failure, and kidney disease drug manufactured by AstraZeneca, has cost Medicare $3.4 billion through 2021. AstraZeneca has made more than $17.7 billion in global revenue and has spent $33.8 million on lobbying since launching the drug. 

• Stelara, a drug for psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis manufactured by Johnson & Johnson, has cost Medicare $5.3 billion through 2021. Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson has executed over $77 billion in stock buybacks while bringing in $58.7 billion in global sales and spending $91.3 million on lobbying since launching the drug.

• Entresto, a heart failure drug manufactured by Novartis, has cost Medicare $4.5 billion through 2021. Novartis has executed $42.6 billion in stock buybacks since launching the drug while bringing in over $17 billion in revenue and spending $55.6 million on lobbying.

Drug company power has gone unchecked for far too long. Some of the most expensive drugs have made as much as $90.9 billion in revenue – making drug makers among the most profitable companies in the world. Rather than pricing their drugs reasonably so they’re affordable and accessible to people, big drug companies spend hundreds of billions on stock buybacks for their investors and reward their executives with massive salaries and bonuses. While drug companies rake in billions, U.S. drug prices are up to four times higher than prices in other high-income countries, leading patients in America to cut pills and skip doses to make ends meet.

Big Drug Companies Spend More on Stock Buybacks Than R&D. While raking in hundreds of billions in revenue, large pharmaceutical companies reward their shareholders through billions in stock buybacks. Our findings are consistent with previous research that found that over the past decade, the largest publicly traded pharmaceutical companies spent $747 billion on stock buybacks and dividends — substantially more than the $660 billion they spent on research and development. 

Big Drug Companies are Bragging About Their Future Financial Performance. The same drug companies expressing concerns about the Inflation Reduction Act’s impact on innovation have been painting a rosier picture for Wall Street; global drug company revenues are projected to grow by 5.8 percent annually over the next five years. Recent research from the Brookings Institute found “little evidence suggesting a disruption in activities and investments that will yield new pharmaceutical products in the years to come.”

HIGHEST-COSTING DRUGS BY THE NUMBERS:

*private company
**cumulative buybacks less than stock sales

¹ This spending and the other Medicare spending noted in this report does not include some rebates and discounts, which CMS is prohibited from publicly disclosing. However, since these drugs do not have competitor drugs, any negotiated rebates or discounts are likely to be very low.