Ozempic, Wegovy and other new drugs are selected for Medicare’s price negotiations

WASHINGTON — Popular weight loss medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy have been added to Medicare’s list of drugs that will be negotiated directly between the government and drugmakers, the Biden administration said Friday.

Price negotiations for the additional fifteen selected drugs will be handled by the new Trump administration and nearly guarantee billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers.

Besides Ozempic and Wegovy, some of the other medications include Trelegy Ellipta, which treats asthma; Otezla, a drug for psoriatic arthritis; and several that treat different types of cancer.

The list is a first step in negotiations and given the timing, details and final pricing will be left to the newly elected administration of President Donald Trump.

“For some people, this is a big deal,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a call with reporters Thursday. “Some people need to skip a dose in their prescription so they can make a prescription last longer.”

That brings the total to 25 drugs that will have lower price tags under a historic new program that allows the government to negotiate the price Medicare pays for the most popular and expensive drug prescriptions filled by older Americans. These 25 drugs account for a third of Medicare spending on prescriptions, Becerra said.