The Biden administration names 10 prescription drugs for the first-ever Medicare pricing negotiations

The Biden administration on Tuesday revealed the first 10 prescription drugs that will be subject to price negotiations with Medicare, marking a milestone for Democrats in their years-long quest to lower soaring health care costs.

The list includes Jardiance, Xarelto, Januvia, Farxiga, Entresto, Enbrel, Imbruvica, Stelara, Fiasp and NovoLog.

President Joe Biden said, in a statement, that the drugs are “among the most popular and expensive prescription medications that treat everything from heart failure, blood clots, diabetes, arthritis, Crohn’s disease — and more.”

“For too long, Americans have paid more for prescription drugs than any major economy. And while the drug industry is making record profits, millions of Americans are forced to choose between paying for the drugs they need to live or paying for food, rent, and care. Other basic necessities,” Biden said. “Those days are ending.”

However, the impact will not be felt immediately, as negotiations will take place this year and next with new prices coming into effect in 2026.

The Medicare drug price negotiation program is a result of the Inflation Act, one of Biden’s major legislative victories. It allows the government to intercede directly with drug manufacturers for the first time in the history of the programme, which provides health insurance coverage to 65 million people, including 57 million senior citizens.

Biden will deliver a speech in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday afternoon to mark the occasion. There, the White House said, he will be joined by a Medicare beneficiary who relies on prescription drugs for chronic conditions.

Medicare enrollees who take the 10 drugs selected for negotiation paid a total of $3.4 billion in direct drug costs in 2022, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Under the Inflation Control Act, the federal government can choose up to 15 more estates to negotiate in 2027, another 15 for 2028, and up to 20 more each year after that.

President Biden, referring to his 2024 re-election message, said taking on “Big Pharma” is part of his “bioeconomics” vision of building the economy from the middle out and the bottom up.

“Let me be clear: I’m not backing down,” Biden said on Tuesday. “There is no reason why Americans should pay more than any developed country for life-saving prescriptions just to line the pockets of Big Pharma.”

The pharmaceutical industry, in response to this advertisement, fired back at the program.

“Giving one government agency the power to arbitrarily set drug prices with little accountability, oversight, or input from patients and their physicians will have significant negative consequences long after this administration is gone,” President of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Stephen J. Oppel said. in a statement.

— ABC’s Justin Gomez, Ann Flaherty, and Karen Travers contributed to this report.