The new Drug Price Negotiation Program applied to 10 drugs this first year, including two SGLT2 inhibitors.
ASN welcomes the outcome of the landmark drug price negotiations between Medicare and pharmaceutical companies, which were recently unveiled by the Biden Administration. The negotiated prices, which take effect in 2026, are expected to save billions of dollars for Medicare.
ASN advocated for this change in law, helping to advance the new Drug Price Negotiation Program within Medicare as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed by Congress in 2022. The program’s mission is to lower prescription drug costs for seniors by empowering Medicare to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs.
The program applied to 10 drugs this first year, including Dapagliflozin (Farxiga) and Empagliflozin (Jardiance), two SGLT2 inhibitors that treat diabetes, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease.
Certain provisions of the law that created the Drug Price Negotiation Program, such as capping patients’ expenses for insulin and their yearly out-of-pocket drug costs, will do more to save older Americans money at the pharmacy counter. According to administration officials, if these new prices had been in effect last year, Medicare would have saved $6 billion, which would have reduced its spending on those drugs by 22 percent.
ASN will continue to advocate for cost savings for kidney patients and all Americans, as well as innovative therapies that can slow the progression of kidney diseases to kidney failure.
© 2021 American Society of Nephrology | All Rights Reserved
Powered by: PubFactory