The U.S. government is expected this week to announce negotiated prices for 15 of the highest-cost prescription drugs under its Medicare health plan, a potential signal of the Trump administration’s commitment to bring down healthcare costs.
The government earlier this month unveiled a deal to next year slash to $245 a month the Medicare and Medicaid prices for Novo Nordisk’s popular GLP-1 drugs, sold as Wegovy for weight loss and Ozempic for diabetes, a level experts said is unlikely to move lower under these negotiations.
Medicare’s recent net price for Ozempic was $428, opens new taba month, according to an analysis published in the Journal of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy. Other drugs up for price negotiation this year include GSK’s asthma and COPD inhaler Trelegy Ellipta and AbbVie’s irritable bowel syndrome medicine Linzess. The new prices will take effect in 2027.
Analysts said they will be looking at how the prices compare to Medicare’s recent net prices after accounting for confidential rebates and discounts. They will also be comparing them to prices negotiated by other high-income countries, a concept President Donald Trump has fought for, sometimes referred to as most-favored-nation pricing. Medicare covers more than 67 million people age 65 and over and those with disabilities.
