Medicare Drug Price Guidance Leaves Murky Future for Rare Drugs

Rare disease patient advocates said Medicare’s final drug price implementation plan threatens to undo incentives to develop drugs for their patients, and they plan to increase pressure on Capitol Hill to maintain protections of a decades-old orphan drug law.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released final guidance Friday on how the agency aims to lower drug costs, marking a critical step as historic drug price negotiations for more than 65 million Medicare beneficiaries are set to begin this fall.

The National Organization for Rare Disorders wanted the agency to clarify that an orphan drug wouldn’t be subject ...