Biden administration reveals Medicare negotiation drug discounts

The extent of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation program’s ability was unveiled Thursday after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the final maximum fair prices they agreed on with drugmakers, and figures suggest success.

The six-month negotiation process came to close Aug. 1, and the federal government has been eager to share the results.

Discounts range from 38 percent to 79 percent, but these are based on the list prices that don’t include negotiated discounts and rebates. As the CMS does not disclose the net price that it pays for drugs, it’s difficult to gauge just how much in actual out-of-pocket savings were achieved.

CMS Deputy Administrator Meena Seshamani told The Hill that negotiations yielded “a better deal today with these prices, above and beyond what rebates and discounts already exist in the Medicare Part D program.”

According to Stacy Sanders, chief competition officer for the Department of Health and Human Services, each negotiation was drug specific.

“So for each drug, there was a negotiation specific to that drug, specific to its clinical benefit and the other factors that Congress required us to consider as part of the negotiations,” Sanders said. “In every case, the department has delivered real savings, and that is demonstrated in the range of savings that we have secured off of list price that will translate into out of pocket savings for people with Medicare.”

Here are the maximum fair prices reached through the first round of Medicare negotiation:

Januvia

Negotiated price: $113.00

List price: $527.00

Discount: 79 percent

NovoLog

Negotiated price: $119

List price: $495

Discount: 76 percent

Farxiga

Negotiated price: $178.50

List price: $556

Discount: 68 percent

Enbrel

Negotiated price: $2,355

List price: $7,106

Discount: 67 percent

Jardiance

Negotiated price: $197

List price: $573

Discount: 66 percent

Stelara

Negotiated price: $4,695

List price: $13,836

Discount: 66 percent

Xarelto

Negotiated price: $197

List price: $517

Discount: 62 percent

Eliquis

Negotiated price: $231

List price: $521

Discount: 56 percent

Entresto

Negotiated price: $295

List price: $628

Discount: 53 percent

Imbruvica

Negotiated price: $9,319

List price: $14,934

Discount: 38 percent