Policymakers Must Defend Medicare Drug Price Negotiations against Big Pharma
The popular program saves taxpayers and patients billions of dollars annually
WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, the Trump Administration announced prices for the second set of drugs selected for negotiation under the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, passed by congressional Democrats and signed into law as part of the Inflation Reduction Act by President Biden.
Negotiated prices announced today will lower prices in 2027 on medicines used by millions of Medicare beneficiaries and represent tens of billions of dollars in annual Medicare spending. The list includes popular diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy as well as costly cancer treatments.
Public Citizen Access to Medicines Advocate, Steve Knievel, issued the following statement:
“The Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program is here to stay. Negotiated prices announced today build on the success from the first year of negotiations and will save patients and the public billions of dollars annually.
“Meanwhile drug corporations and their allies in Congress continue to attack the program. Drug corporations already secured a $9 billion giveaway from President Trump and congressional Republicans paid for by taxpayers and cancer patients through the Big Ugly Bill, and they are trying to go even further to delay and exempt price negotiations for more blockbuster drugs.
“Policymakers must reject these efforts to undermine Medicare drug price negotiations. Instead they should build on the program’s success by providing everyone access to negotiated prices, negotiating lower prices for more drugs sooner, and ensuring drug corporations can no longer rip us off by charging the highest prices in the world for medications.
Federal courts have repeatedly rejected challenges to the Medicare drug price negotiation program, dealing a win for consumers and a major blow to Big Pharma and the U.S Chamber of Commerce. Public Citizen, joined by Doctors for America, Protect Our Care, and Families USA, filed amicus briefs in support of the government and defending the constitutionality of the program.