White House says Medicare drug price negotiations will save $6 billion

Aug. 15 (UPI) -- The White House said on Wednesday that negotiations with pharmaceutical companies over Medicare drug prices ended with an estimated savings of $6 billion for the first 10 drugs chosen by the program.

The Biden administration said negotiations lasted six months, ending Aug. 1, after lawsuits by the pharmaceutical companies mostly failed to stop the process. Agreements were signed this month for lower prices on all the targeted drugs.

A chart released by the White House on Thursday showed the discounts ranging from 38% for Imbruvica to 79% for the diabetes drug Januvia.

"Today, for the first time in history, my administration is announcing that Medicare has reached agreements on new, lower prices with the manufacturers of all 10 drugs selected for the first round of drug price negotiations," President Joe Biden said in a statement.

"When these lower prices go into effect, people on Medicare will save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs for their prescription drugs and Medicare will save $6 billion in the first year alone. It's a relief for the millions of seniors that take these drugs to treat everything from heart failure, blood clots, diabetes, arthritis, Crohn's disease and more."

Vice President Kamala Harris said the negotiated price changes have the potential to affect every American who has relatives on Medicare or may need the drugs themselves.

"Today's announcement will be life-changing for so many of our loved ones across the nation, and we are not stopping here," Harris said in her statement. "Additional prescription drugs will be selected each year as part of our Medicare drug price negotiation program."

The targeted drugs their negotiated prices include:

• Eliquis, from Bristol-Myers Squibb, to prevent blood clotting and reduce stroke risk, $521 to $231, 56%
• Jardiance, from Boehringer Ingelheim, to lower blood sugar for people with type 2 diabetes, $573 to $197, 66%
• Xarelto, from Johnson & Johnson, to prevent blood clotting and reduce stroke risk, $517 to $197, 62%
• Januvia, from Merck, to lower blood sugar for peoplewith type 2 diabetes, $527 to $113, 79%
• Farxiga, from AstraZeneca, to treat type 2 diabetes,$556 to $178.50, 68%
• Entresto, from Novartis, to treat heart failure, $628 to $295, 53%
• Enbrel, from Amen, to treat rheumatoid arthritis, $7,106 to $2,355, 67%
• Imbruvica, from Abbvie, to treat various types of blood cancers, $14,934 to $9,319, 38%
• Stelara, from Janssen, to treat Crohn's disease, $13,836 to $4,695
• A family of insulin products made by Novo Nordisk to treat diabetes, including Fiasp; Fiasp FlexTouch; Fiasp PenFill, NovoLog; NovoLog FlexPen; and NovoLog PenFill, $495 to $119, 76%

"Because Medicare is now able to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for seniors, American taxpayers are expected to save $6 billion on these 10 drugs alone when the negotiated prices go into effect," Neera Tanden, the White House domestic policy adviser, said in a press briefing.

The savings, the White House said, were based on 2023 prices if negotiations had been going on then. Senior administration officials said those savings won't be "materially different" from those forecast two years from now.

The White House predicted that by 2026, the new prices could save Medicare enrollees $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket expenses.