The pharma industry has warned that the biggest shake-up of US drug pricing regulation in decades will cripple innovation and stymie development of life-saving medicines in last-ditch lobbying aimed at blunting new legislation.
The reforms in the Biden administration’s climate and healthcare bill would for the first time hand the federal government power to negotiate prices for some of the most expensive drugs purchased by Medicare, the taxpayer-funded healthcare scheme for retirees.
The bill, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, is expected to be passed in the House of Representatives on Friday before being signed into law by US president Joe Biden.