The cost of 15 prescription drugs – including super-popular medications used for weight loss – will be lowered following negotiations with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The lower prices cover medications used to treat cancer, diabetes, asthma and other chronic illnesses. The price cuts were negotiated through a program created under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and come after similar cuts on 10 medications last year. Those price cuts will go into effect in 2026; new prices for the 15 medications will take effect in 2027.
The negotiated prices are what Medicare pays drugmakers for the medications and are not necessarily the prices patients will pay out of pocket. However, the new costs will be covered under the Maximum Fair Price for drugs that must be made available to all eligible individuals and included in all Part D plans.
Negotiated costs for a 30-day supply of the drugs include:
- Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy, for Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and weight loss – $274 negotiated price, down from the $959
- Trelegy Ellipta, asthma, COPD – $175, down from $654
- Xtandi, prostate cancer – $7,004, down from $13,480
- Pomalyst, a chemotherapy drug for Kaposi sarcoma and multiple myeloma – $8,650, down from $21,744
- Ofev, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis – $6,350, down from $12,622
- Ibrance, breast cancer – $7,871, down from $15,741
- Linzess, chronic constipation, irritable bowel syndrome – $136, down from $539
- Calquence, cancer drug for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, small lymphocytic lymphoma, Mantle cell lymphoma: $8,600, down from $14,228
- Austedo and Austedo XR, chorea in Huntington’s disease, Tardive dyskinesia – $4,093, down from $6,623
- Breo Ellipta, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – $67, down from $397.
- Xifaxan, Hepatic encephalopathy, irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea – $1,000, down from $2,696.
- Vraylar, Bipolar 1 disorder, major depressive disorder, schizophrenia – $770, down from $1,376
- Tradjenta, Type 2 diabetes – $78, down from $488
- Janumet and Janumet XR, Type 2 diabetes – $80, down from $526
- Otezla, oral ulcers in Behcet’s disease, plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis – $1,650, down from $4,722
The 15 drugs account for $42.5 billion, or 15%, of total Medicare Part D spending in 2024, the agency said.