The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Tuesday published the list of branded medications designated for the third cycle of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program.
The newly announced selection explicitly names products from several large pharmaceutical companies, among them Eli Lilly, Pfizer and AbbVie. CMS has stated that this round represents the first occasion in which drugs paid for under Medicare Part B will be part of the negotiation process.
Medicare Part B generally covers medications that are administered in outpatient settings or in doctors' offices. The inclusion of Part B products expands the scope of the program beyond drugs dispensed through retail pharmacies and into therapies provided through clinical or office-based care settings.
The Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program was created with the stated objective of reducing prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries. It does so by authorizing direct price negotiations between the federal government and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
What was announced
- CMS released a new list of branded medicines selected for round three of the negotiation program.
- The list includes drugs from Eli Lilly, Pfizer and AbbVie.
- For the first time, products covered under Medicare Part B are part of the negotiation cycle.
The agency's announcement did not provide additional detail in this release about specific negotiation timetables, the particular drugs named beyond the companies cited, or prospective pricing outcomes. The statement emphasizes the program's mechanism - directly negotiating prices with manufacturers - and its purpose of lowering costs for Medicare enrollees.
Scope and limits of available information
The public notice confirms the expansion to Part B and the participation of major branded-drug manufacturers, but it does not include further particulars in this announcement regarding negotiation schedules, the full set of products included, or the projected impact on spending. Those specifics were not provided in the CMS release covered here.
This report only covers the details supplied in the CMS announcement: the list release, the named companies, the inaugural inclusion of Part B products and the program's core purpose of reducing prescription costs through government-manufacturer negotiations.