Trump is unlikely to end Medicare Drug Price Talks – Here’s What that means for Patients and Pharma

Presiding Donald Trump Likely Won’T do Away with a Landmark Process that Allows Medicare to Negotiate Drug Price With manufacturers, even as he mrows to erase joe biden’s other historic policy accomplishments.

But trump will likely make some changes to that Price TalksAnd it may not require help from Congress.

“Trump is looking to nibble around the edges of the law,” said Matthew Kupferberg, A Partner in Friend at this point. “

It’s still unclear which will go trump will lean, however. While Some Lawmakers and Health Policy Experts Said Trump could Weaken The Negotiations in a Way That Helps The Pharmaceutical Industry, Other Experts Said He COLD DOWN DOWN DOWN and Try to the Fede Overnament even more money to outdo his predacesor.

The path he takes could have huge stakes for the price 68 million medicine beneficiaries in the us pay for their medicines. It will also have big implications for companys like Novo Nordisk, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer and MerckAmong others whose drugs were included in the first two rounds of talks.

The negotiations are a key provision of biden’s inflation reduction act, or Ira, that AIMS to Lower Prescription Medicine Costs for Seniors and Save the Government Nearly $ 100 Billion in Medicare Spending Over the Next Decade. The Pharmaceutical Industry Fiercely Opposes The Price Talks, Arguing in a Flurry of Lawsuits that they Threten Profits and Discourage Drug Innovation.

The Trump Administration has offered fast specific on its approach to the negotiations, apart from say in january that it will AIM for “Greater Transparency” In the ongoing second cycle of the process and hear any ideas for improving it from external stakeholders.

Making significant changes to the law or reepealing it altogether would be an uphill battle if it requires it requires help from Congress, where republicans Hold Slime Majorities. Reining in High Health-Care Costs Has Strong Bipartisan Support in a Nation Where Patients Pay two to three times more For prescription drugs than people in other developed countries, Making it a potentially unpopular move for trump.

So the Trump Administration Bide Move to Implement the provision different than biden did, include by changing how the government interpreters the law’s selection Criteria for Drugs, AMONGIGNIL CRUGS, Among next.

“I think it is a question of how they interpret some of the statutory language,” said Juliette Cubanski, Deputy Director of the Program on Medicare Policy at KFF, A HeALTH POLICY Organization.

Cubanski said we can expect a first glimpse at any changes in the coming months.

The Trump Administration will start the monthslong negotiation process for a Second Cycle of 15 DrugsWhich will have new prices go into effect in 2027. The biden administration selected that medicines in January before Trump TRUMP TROUMP TORUMP TORMP THE. Drugmakers have until the end of February to decide wheeter to participate in the talks, which they likely will believe they otherwise face stiff financial penalties.

Trump has so far only indicated the need for more transparency in medicine drug price negotiation. Kupferberg said that could mean disclosing more information about the government’s rationale for selecting drugs or settling on priests.

During the first round of the talks, medicine provided Oportunities for Public Input From patients, caregivers and consumer groups. But kupferberg said the trump administration could move to brings in other stakeholders beyond manufacturers and patients, like insurers or even accused charled phasefit maanagers.

“It could be a much broader type of negotiation process,” He said.

The administration could also reinterpret the guidelines of the law, which would change what products get selected and how much prices fall, according to amy campbell Sity of Illinois Chicago School of Law.

For example, the Ira says the drugs selected for negotiations must have been on the market for at least seven years with generic competitors, or 11 years in the case of Biologic Products. But the trump administration, when selecting another round of drugs, may have “Looser Standards” For Determining Whitor a Drug Has Has Has Has Competition in the Market and Should Be Exampt from Negotiated PRICILLL SAIDED

Trump could also also revise what medicine considers one drug for the purpose of negotiations, kFF’s cubanski said. Currently, different products that share the same active ingredient can be selected as a single product, which the pharmaceutical industry opposes,

The biden administration, for example, included three of novo Nordisk’s branded medicines with the same activity ingredient – semaglutide – as one product in the second cycle of private talks. That incluses the weight loss drug wegovy, diabetes pill rybelsus and the anti-obesity injempic. Of the three, ozepic makes up the lion’s share of medicine.

Eiter of those changes to how medicine selects drugs could benefit drugmakers and lessen the revenue they loose from lower price.

The bigger question is how aggressively medical will negotiate prises under trump, cubanski said. Currently, the final negotiated price for a drug cannot Exced an upper limit, or “Ceiling” priceEstabled by the Ira.

Trump Block Influence Whether Medicare’s Initial Price For a Drug is Closer to the Ceiling Price, whichoundwal weKen the program’s ability to second.

Cubanski said bipartisan legislation was introduced last year that proposesEliminating the pill penalty. If that bill makes it through Congress and to trump’s desk, “I don’t see why he he wouldn’t sign it,” Cubanski said.

She added that there appears to be growing interest in legislative changes to the negotiation program, but “whether you get enough support in Congress is still really an open question.”

There isn’t the same level of bipartisan support for changes to the Ira as there is for efforts like Pharmacy Benefit Manager Reform, Said Jesse Dresseer, Partner in Friends LEVITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTES.

“I could see something like (PBM Reform) Happy A Lot Sooner Than I Could See Trying to Open Up The Ira and Tweak it, even if it’s summing that the administration might Ultimate

It’s Unclear How Trump will approach the Ongoing Legal Fight Between Manufacturers and the federal government over the medicine program.

The pharmaceutical industry’s legal challenges, which argue that the talks are unconstitutional and should be stopped, have so far beeen unSuccessful in Court. Nine lawsuits Were ongoing as of January.

“Will the Trump Administration Continue to Defend The Program? Or maybe not as aggressively Defend the program?” Cubanski said. “I think there are some key questions.”

If the Trump Administration Stops Defending The Program in Court, Judges Blad then Make decisions on the matter with any option, kupferberg said. But he said he doesn’t believe the administration will want that outcome.

The Trump Administration would be likely “Want to take control of that process, where the parties work out an agreement or revise and change the interpreting of the law,” kupferberg said.

He added that it does not see trump would want the entrere negotiation program to disappear based on the lawsuits. That’s trust it would leave trump in the position to come up with a replacement for medicine for drug price negotiations, and we “just haven’t seen on coup