CER Daily Newsfeed

US Government Launches Program to Lower Medicaid Drug Prices

(11/6, Reuters) reports “...The new program, called the Generous Model, will launch in 2026 and allow participating state Medicaid programs to purchase drugs at internationally aligned prices, [CMS] said. It is voluntary for both states and drug manufacturers. Under the program, manufacturers will provide additional rebates to states to ensure drug prices match the lowest levels in eight other developed countries - the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, Denmark and Switzerland.” Subscription Required

Makary Pushes Bounds of FDA Commissioner Role on Prices, Drug Reviews and Personnel

(11/6, Zachary Brennan, Endpoints News) reports “...The FDA has said that it may pick drugs for the new voucher program that lower ‘the U.S. price of a drug or drugs consistent with Most Favored Nation pricing or reduces other downstream medical utilization to lower overall healthcare costs. We’re not interested in 1% or 2% reductions in drug prices. We’re interested in massive reductions,’ Makary said Thursday.” Subscription Required

ESMO 2025: EU Reform Aims to Fast-Track Cancer Drug Access

(11/7, Daniela Ovadia, MD, Medscape) reports “...‘We’re learning from the early JCA and JSC experiences,’ said [Maya Matthews, MSc, head of the HTA Unit at the European Commission]. ‘The goal now is to raise awareness of the HTA regulation among companies, patients, and clinicians, and to build capacity through education and training.’ Patient expectations are high. ‘We hope that better use of time, effort, and resources will lead to faster inclusion of innovative therapies in reimbursement schemes — and thus faster access for patients,’ [Monica Racovita, policy manager at Myeloma Patients Europe,] said. ‘And we hope that the mandatory involvement of patients in European HTA will inspire similar participation at the national level.’” Full