The Biden administration said Medicare will negotiate discounts with drug companies on 15 drugs prescribed to treat cancer, diabetes and asthma.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra says “this is a big deal.” Drug companies oppose the program.

The government is expected to pay lower prices for Ozempic and Wegovy starting in 2027. The Trump administration will decide whether to expand coverage for millions of Americans.

WASHINGTON — Medicare officials announced plans to negotiate the prices of blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, further complicating big decisions the Trump administration will have to make about how to cover the medications.

Researchers from Canada reviewed the results of 26 trials to determine which of the weight loss jabs are the most effective for obese adults who do not have diabetes.

Eli Lilly and other drugmakers are reportedly planning to urge the Trump administration to pause Medicare drug-price negotiations that were put in place by the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). "They need to fix [the IRA]," Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks told Bloomberg at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.

On its last weekday in power, the Biden Administration has chosen the next batch of drugs up for price negotiation in Medicare.

Novo Nordisk's blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic and weight-loss treatment Wegovy are among the 15 drugs targeted for Medicare price negotiations for 2027, the U.S. government said on Friday, part of a law pharmaceutical companies have pledged to revisit with the Trump administration.