Negotiated drug prices revealed as IRA bares teeth

Some two years after it was signed into law by US President Joe Biden, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will soon start delivering the savings on drug prices that have long been promised.

The law provides Medicare the ability to directly negotiate the prices of certain high expenditure, single source drugs without generic or biosimilar competition.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) selected 10 drugs covered under Medicare Part D for the first cycle of negotiations for initial price applicability year 2026 and engaged in voluntary negotiations with the drug companies for the selected drugs.