Medicare Finalizes Drug Price Negotiations for 2027\n\nThe federal government has announced the results of its latest round of Medicare drug price negotiations, leading to lower prices for 15 medications, effective in 2027.\n\n### Negotiated Discounts\n\nMedicare will receive a 71% discount on the drugs Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus, which are used for obesity and Type 2 diabetes. These drugs currently have list prices around $1,000 per month. The negotiations also included medications for conditions such as asthma, breast cancer, and leukemia.\n\nDiscounts secured ranged from 38% for Austedo, used to treat Huntington's disease, to 85% for Janumet, a Type 2 diabetes medication.\n\n### Legislative Context and Savings\n\nThis negotiation program, which covers drugs for over 50 million seniors, was enabled by a provision within the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022. This legislation ended a two-decade prohibition on Medicare negotiating drug prices.\n\nThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) estimates that if these newly negotiated prices had been in effect in 2024, the program would have saved approximately $12 billion.\n\nDr. Benjamin Rome, a health policy researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, noted that the savings from this round exceeded those of the initial negotiation phase, attributing this to the specific drugs selected and accumulated experience.\n\nDrugs were chosen based on criteria outlined in the law, including a lack of generic or biosimilar competition, high Medicare spending, and being on the market for a specified number of years.\n\n### Discrepancy with Previous Deal\n\nEarlier on November 6, the Trump administration announced a separate deal with Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Ozempic and Wegovy. This deal aimed to encourage drug companies to voluntarily align U.S. prices with those in other developed nations.\n\nUnder the November 6 deal, Ozempic and Wegovy were set at $245 per month. However, the prices resulting from the Medicare negotiations, announced this week for Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus, are $274 per month.\n\nNovo Nordisk issued a statement indicating anticipation of further clarification from CMS regarding pricing and coverage mechanisms. The company also stated that the separate Trump administration deal represented an effort to broaden access to obesity care across Medicare and Medicaid, though specific implementation details remain undefined. Novo Nordisk affirmed its commitment to advocating for affordable access to its medications while expressing ongoing concerns about the Inflation Reduction Act's impact on patients and opposition to government price setting.\n\n### Stakeholder Response\n\nAARP, an advocacy organization for Americans aged 50 and older, expressed satisfaction with the negotiation outcomes. AARP's CEO, Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, stated that the announcement represents a significant step in efforts to reduce prescription drug prices, which is a key priority for older Americans.