Trump executive order backs change to Medicare negotiation pushed by drug industry
Source: The Hill
04/15/25 6:57 PM ET
A new executive order signed Tuesday by President Trump directs Congress to change a key provision of the law allowing Medicare drug price negotiations, a move that would fix one of the drug industry’s biggest complaints. The order applies to what the industry calls the Inflation Reduction Act’s “pill penalty,” where small molecule drugs — typically pills — face Medicare drug price negotiations sooner than more complex biologic drugs.
Small molecule drugs are eligible for selection to the drug price negotiation program seven years after Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. After a two-year negotiation period, the new price takes effect in year nine. Biologics are eligible for selection 11 years after FDA approval, followed by a two-year negotiation period, with the new price taking effect at year 13.
“This imbalance exacerbates incentives that already too often push companies to invest in large molecule drugs over small molecule alternatives, which often apply to broader populations and impact different types of conditions,” an administration official told reporters Tuesday during a press call.
Industry groups similarly argue the law sends a signal to researchers that developing small molecule drugs is not worth the risk. The change isn’t something the administration can do on its own, so it directed Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to work with Congress to facilitate it. Legislation already exists in the House and Senate that would accomplish that goal.
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5250823-trump-executive-order-backs-change-to-medicare-negotiation-pushed-by-drug-industry/
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Greed, greed, greed 