CMS’ price negotiations take two: Ozempic, Xtandi among 15 drugs chosen

In the final days of the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) laid out the latest 15 drugs that are subject to negotiated prices, with Novo Nordisk A/S’ GLP-1 drug, Ozempic, for type 2 diabetes at the top of the list, bringing Rybelsus and Wegovy along for the ride because they share the same active pharmaceutical ingredient, semaglutide. The three products – counted as one for the purposes of the negotiation – cost Medicare Part D $14.4 billion over a recent 12-month period, with 2.29 million Medicare enrollees using the drugs. Asthma and chronic…