Lilly Asks Biden Administration to Pause Drug-Price Negotiations

Source: Bloomberg

January 13, 2025 at 1:00 PM EST


Drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co. has asked the US government to pause its forward march with drug-price negotiations, potentially thwarting the Biden administration’s plans to release a new list of drug targets before leaving office next week. “They need to fix it” before negotiating down the price of more drugs, Lilly Chief Executive Officer Dave Ricks said on the sidelines of the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, referring to the Inflation Reduction Act.

President Joe Biden’s signature legislation, the IRA allows the US government to pay lower prices on older, widely used drugs in the government’s health-care program for the elderly. The outgoing administration is planning to release a list of the next set of drugs eligible for negotiation before leaving office, a person familiar with the matter said.

The White House declined to comment on whether it will publish a new list of drugs for price discussions before the transition to the next administration. So far, the IRA has exceeded expectations, achieving cuts of 38% to 79% below US list prices for targeted drugs and saving seniors $1.5 billion on copays and deductibles, White House spokeswoman Kelly Scully said in an email.

Ozempic and Wegovy, Novo Nordisk A/S’s diabetes and weight-loss drugs, are among those that are likely to be on the list of new government targets, based on spending data. That’s a problem for Lilly, Novo’s biggest rival, because a lower price for any one drug has the potential to weigh on prices for similar treatments.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-13/lilly-asks-biden-administration-to-pause-drug-price-negotiations