Medicare drug price negotiations: impact on healthcare development and patient access to medicines

Introduction: In the US, a Medicare drug price negotiation provision has been introduced in the form of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). An online webinar on the introduction of the IRA was held to discuss its implications on medicines innovation and impact on patient access to medicines. Methods: The webinar was held by the Alliance for Safe Biologic Medicines (ASBM) in collaboration with the Generics and Biosimilars Initiative (GaBI) on 26 July 2023. A number of expert speaker presentations were followed by a Q&A with the panel and the audience also had the opportunity to ask questions online throughout the webinar. Results: Presentations examined how the Medicare drug price negotiation provision in the IRA, can be considered a type of price-setting policy, similar to the European-style price control policies applied to medicines. In addition, the threat that government price setting poses regarding innovation and access to medicines for patients was discussed. Experiences with cost containment efforts in different countries and their impact on patient care and innovation were a key focus. Further details of the presentations were discussed during the Q&A, and clarifications made via the concurrent online Q&A. Conclusion: The webinar enabled an in-depth discussion of the Medicare drug price negotiation in the IRA and its potential negative impacts on innovation and patient access to new treatments. The US Medicare system’s current policy of private drug price negotiation versus European-style government price-setting were explored. Patient access to new drugs in the US, and resulting health outcomes, were compared favourably to that of European patients.