“No choice at all”: Pharma companies begrudgingly agree to negotiate prices

Enlarge (credit: Getty | Kena Betancur)

At least four top pharmaceutical companies suing the federal government over a new requirement to negotiate Medicare drug prices have agreed to come to the table for the first round of negotiations—at least for now.

Merck, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Boehringer Ingelheim have all said that they will agree to the negotiations, though some were clearly bitter about it.

The four companies manufacture prescription drugs that were among the first 10 selected by Department of Health and Human Services to be subject to price negotiations, a provision under the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. Specifically, Merck makes the Type 2 diabetes drug Januvia, AstraZeneca is behind the diabetes drug Farxiga, Boehringer Ingelheim makes the diabetes drug Jardiance, and Bristol Myers Squibb makes Eliquis, a drug for blood clotting—all of which were selected for drug negotiations.