Overview
- The Supreme Court, which on Monday declined to hear six pharma appeals, left lower-court decisions in place and kept Medicare’s drug price negotiations moving forward.
- Appeals from Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis and Boehringer Ingelheim failed after the Second and Third Circuits upheld the program.
- Created in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act lets Medicare’s agency and manufacturers agree on a maximum price for selected high‑cost drugs, with firms that refuse facing steep excise taxes or the choice to leave Medicare and Medicaid.
- Prices for the first 10 drugs took effect in January 2026 with CMS reporting several billion dollars in savings, and 15 more drugs — including GLP‑1 medicines Ozempic and Wegovy — are slated for 2027.
- The Trump administration is defending the program in court, and stopping or scaling it back now would likely require action by Congress.