Medicare Shows Hand on How It Will Negotiate Drug Prices (2)

The Medicare agency released final guidance Friday on how it will negotiate lower prices with drug manufacturers, moving full steam ahead implementing a law that is now the target of multiple industry lawsuits.

Under the 198-page guidance, drug companies may choose to publicly discuss details from the price negotiation process with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at their discretion. The companies will also no longer have to abide by the agency’s previous proposal to destroy all data received from the CMS during the negotiation process.

The changes come after the CMS reviewed more than 7,500 comments from industry, ...