The US government on Tuesday announced cuts to the prices of 15 drugs through the Medicare health insurance system, including major discounts on the price of diabetes and weight loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMS, announced a 71% cut in the cost of the Novo Nordisk AS treatments Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus.
The monthly treatment cost for Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus in the US will come down to $274 from $959.
The biggest discounts announced by the CMS were a 85% discount for Merck & Co‘s diabetes treatment Janumet, and 84% for another diabetic drug Tradjenta manufactured by privately held Boehringer Ingelheim Inc.
Shares in Novo Nordisk closed 4.7% higher at $47.06 in New York on Tuesday before falling 0.1% after hours, while shares in Merck & Co ended 5.2% higher at $105.66 before falling 0.2% after hours.
Other drug companies to have substantial price cuts for their treatments included AbbVie Inc, Amgen Inc, AstraZeneca PLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, GSK PLC, and Pfizer Inc.
The new prices will be applicable in 2027.
The CMS manages the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, negotiating prices for high expenditure, single source drugs which do not have generic or biosimilar competition.
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