STAT+: Trump’s secretive pharma deals may undermine ‘most-favored nation’ pricing, an analysis suggests

The Trump administration has promoted “most-favored nation” pricing as a way to lower Medicare drug costs by tying what Medicare pays to the prices paid by 19 other wealthy nations. The White House has maintained the effort would save Medicare $26 billion over several years and help address the long-standing problem of increasingly unaffordable prescription drugs.

To implement the approach, the administration is creating two pilot programs: GLOBE for Medicare Part B and GUARD for Medicare Part D. These programs would require drug companies to pay additional rebates if their prices exceed the lowest international price found among those 19 countries. More specific details about the rules are due shortly.

According to a new analysis, however, the projected savings from the plan may be drastically reduced — by as much as 80% — because of secretive deals cut with more than two dozen pharmaceutical companies. That finding raises questions about whether the administration’s touted Medicare savings will materialize as promised.