Medicare Part D

CMS Announces First Drugs for Medicare Price Negotiations

August 29, 2023 - Kicking off the much-awaited drug price negotiations, the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — under authority from the Biden administration — announced the first ten drugs entering price negotiations. “Today marks a significant and historic moment...

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Merck & Co Manufacturing Mishap Leads to Carcinogen in Diabetes Medication

by Hayden Schmidt

Last week, Merck & Co made the FDA aware of the presence of nitrosamine in its type 2 diabetes drug, Januvia. Merck’s analysis of the drug found nitrosamine levels higher than allowed by the...

Top-Selling Medicare Part D Prescription Drugs in Recent Years

by Samantha McGrail

All Medicare plans must cover a wide range of prescription drugs, including most drugs in certain protected classes. But Medicare Part D plans must cover all or substantially all drugs in six...

Top Manufacturers of Most Prescribed Drugs in Medicare

by Samantha McGrail

As healthcare begins to reimagine reimbursement and cost, it will be essential to understand the therapies that drive them. By looking into the most prescribed drugs in Medicare—and the...

Study Finds Major Medicare Overspending Generic Prescription Drugs

by Samantha McGrail

Medicare overspent by 13.2 percent in 2017 and 20.6 percent in 2018 compared with Costco pharmacy member prices for the most commonly prescribed generic prescription drugs, according to a JAMA Network...

Few Drugs Make Half of Medicare Prescription Drug Spending

by Samantha McGrail

A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis recently found that a small number drugs accounted for a disproportionate share of Medicare prescription drug spending in 2019.  Researchers measured the share...

US Spending on Specialty Drugs Increases Year Over Year

by Samantha McGrail

Specialty drugs accounted for 37.7 percent of retail and mail order prescription spending net of rebates in 2016-2017, a recent Health Affairs study found. Researchers leveraged nationally...

What is Medicare Part D, What Does It Mean for Pharma?

by Emily Sokol, MPH

Prescription drugs were not covered for Medicare beneficiaries prior to 2006. But the passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act developed Medicare Part D, a voluntary prescription benefit for Medicare...

CMS Moves to Foster Access to Generics, Biosimilars in New Rule

by Ana Mulero

The Trump administration put out a proposed rule on Wednesday that aims to foster access to generics and biosimilars through a push for price transparency around pharmaceutical drugs administered under...

Exploring International Reference Pricing for Pharmaceuticals

by Jacqueline LaPointe

In October 2018, the Trump administration proposed an international reference pricing model to reduce the federal government's spending on prescription drugs. The International Pricing Index (IPI)...

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