The Biden administration has announced a groundbreaking initiative to negotiate the prices of 10 high-cost prescription medications under Medicare, the federal health program that covers 66 million older Americans. This marks the first time such negotiations have been implemented, with the goal of reducing costs for some of the most expensive and widely used drugs.
Here are the details of the selected drugs, along with their gross cost to Medicare between May 2022 and June 2023:
Eliquis: Eliquis, a blood thinner from Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer, is one of the most costly drugs covered by Medicare. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), it accounted for $16.5 billion in expenses over the 12-month period ending June 2023. Eliquis is prescribed to approximately 3.7 million Medicare beneficiaries to treat blood clots and reduce the risk of stroke.
Jardiance: Jardiance, developed by Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly, is used to treat type-2 diabetes, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease. It was the second most expensive drug for Medicare, with a cost of $7 billion for 1.6 million patients during the same period.
Xarelto: Xarelto, a blood thinner from Johnson & Johnson, serves as a competitor to Eliquis. Medicare spent over $6 billion on this medication between June 2022 and May 2023. It was used by 1.3 million enrollees to lower the risk of stroke, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and other related conditions.
Januvia: Januvia, produced by Merck & Co., is prescribed to help lower blood glucose levels in adults with type-2 diabetes. It was used by 869,000 Medicare patients in the year ending June 2023, at a total cost of $4.1 billion.
Farxiga: Farxiga, another diabetes medication from AstraZeneca, is also used to treat heart failure and chronic kidney disease. Medicare spent $3.3 billion on Farxiga for nearly 800,000 patients over the same 12-month period.
Entresto: Entresto, a heart failure drug from Novartis, cost Medicare $2.9 billion to treat nearly 60,000 patients during the designated period.
Enbrel: Enbrel, manufactured by Amgen, is used to treat autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. Medicare incurred $2.8 billion in costs to provide this drug to 48,000 patients between May 2022 and June 2023.
Imbruvica: Imbruvica, a leukemia treatment co-developed by AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson, cost Medicare $2.7 billion over the 12-month period to treat 20,000 patients.
The selection of these drugs for price negotiations represents a significant step towards making life-saving medications more affordable for millions of Americans under Medicare.
