Medicare Drug Price Talks Look to Tap Real-World Evidence Data

Medicare’s drug price negotiation presents a pivotal moment to advance the use of real-world evidence into how well drugs work compared with others, but a former CMS head said the agency must clearly lay out which data it’ll accept.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said in its initial March guidance on the drug price negotiation process that it will consider evidence such as “comparative effectiveness of the selected drug and its therapeutic alternatives, including the effects of the selected drug and its therapeutic alternatives on specific populations.”

Drugs won’t be eligible for negotiation in the US unless they’ve ...