Medicare Unveils First 10 Negotiated Drug Prices

Sitagliptin (Januvia) saw the greatest drop in price among the list of 10 drugs whose new prices were announced Thursday under Medicare’s drug price negotiation program.

The price negotiation program was passed in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The measure lowers prescription drug costs for seniors by empowering Medicare to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs. The price for sitagliptin, a type 2 diabetes drug, dropped from $527 for a 30-day supply to $113, a 79% decrease. The other nine drugs whose prices were announced Thursday included:

• Insulin aspart injection (NovoLog, among others): for diabetes mellitus; original price $495, negotiated price $119 (76% decrease)
• Dapagliflozin (Farxiga): for type 2 diabetes, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease; original list price $556, negotiated price $179 (68% decrease)
• Etanercept (Enbrel): for rheumatoid arthritis; original list price $7,106 [$1,777 per weekly dose], negotiated price $2,355 (67% decrease)
• Empagliflozin (Jardiance): for type 2 diabetes and heart failure; original list price $573, negotiated price $197 (66% decrease)
• Ustekinumab (Stelara): for Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis; original list price $13,836, negotiated price $4,695 (66% decrease)
• Rivaroxaban (Xarelto): to prevent blood clots and reduce risks for patients with coronary or peripheral artery disease; original list price $517, negotiated price $197 (62% decrease)
• Apixaban (Eliquis): to prevent stroke and blood clots; original list price $521, negotiated price $231 (56% decrease)
• Sacubitril/valsartan (Entresto): for chronic heart failure; original list price $628, negotiated price $295 (53% decrease)
• Ibrutinib (Imbruvica): for chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma and other blood cancers; original list price $14,934, negotiated price $9,319 (38% decrease)

“Americans pay way too much for their prescription drugs; that’s what makes today’s announcement so historic,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said on a phone call with reporters Wednesday night. “For the first time ever, Medicare negotiated directly with drug companies, and the American people are better off for it.”

The negotiated prices will take effect beginning Jan. 1, 2026. “In our first year of negotiations, we are saving Medicare $6 billion,” Becerra said; the figure is based on what Medicare would have paid for drugs in 2023 had the negotiated prices been in effect. “And on top of that, Americans who pay out-of-pocket costs in Medicare for their prescription drugs will be saving another $1.5 billion moving forward.”

The 10 drugs chosen for negotiation by CMS — single-source brand-name drugs with no therapeutically equivalent generic or biosimilar competition — were targeted for negotiation based on their total expenditures in the Medicare Part D program. These drugs are either costly, widely used, or both. Apixaban, for example, was used by nearly 4 million Medicare beneficiaries in 2023, bringing the total cost last year to over $18 billion.

Looking ahead, CMS will choose up to 15 additional drugs for price negotiation for 2027, up to 15 more drugs (to include drugs covered under Medicare Part B) for 2028, and up to 20 more drugs for price negotiation each year after that, as stated in the IRA.

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