Stock Spotlight: US drug price negotiation not an immediate threat to Pfizer

'Victims of Covid success'

The US Government has named the first ten drugs eligible for price negotiation with Medicare from 2026, which include pharmaceutical firm Pfizer’s products, but experts say the delayed rollout of the pricing changes will lessen the blow on the firm.

President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, a feature of which sought to bring down drug costs for those on Medicare, the government national insurance program for over 65s. Through using the government to negotiate for the price of common pharmaceuticals on Medicare, Biden pledged to bring costs down for pensioners, with the first ten drugs eligible announced last week. Pfizer's blood thinner drug Eliquis was included on the list, which Sheena Berry, equity research analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said brought in revenues of $6.5bn for the firm last year. Stock Spotl...