Major pharmaceutical companies lashed out following a landmark deal unveiled Thursday to cut the costs of 10 key medicines, with some saying the price-setting process was not transparent. Their statements came after US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris announced a deal to lower costs of the first 10 drugs picked for Medicare price talks. The agreement with drugmakers—who said they came on board with negotiations as they had no choice—is set to save seniors in the United States $1.
5 billion in out-of-pocket costs. It is the result of months of negotiations and is anticipated to save Medicare $6 billion in the first year alone, said Biden, referring to the federal health insurance for seniors. While the announcement is a likely boon for Democratic presidential candidate Harris as she works on her economic messaging ahead of November's election, have long resisted the cuts.
The US government is initially limited to picking 10 drugs for price talks and can expand the program in subsequent years. 'Not objective' The agreements come on the back of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a major package of energy transition policy and social reforms. This allowed Medicare to start negotiating costs for the first time in its nearly 60-year existence.
Novartis, whose heart failure treatment Entresto is among the 10 selected medicines, pushed back against the price-setting process as "not objective or transparent." "Novartis believes the price-setting provisions in th.