All 15 drugmakers selected for Medicare's third price talks agree to participate
Every manufacturer in Medicare's third round of drug price talks has agreed to negotiate, keeping 2028 prices on schedule, but the names of the 15 drugs were not in the announcement.
All 15 drugmakers whose products were selected for the third round of Medicare drug price negotiations have agreed to participate, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced on March 13, 2026 [1]. The agency also said the manufacturer of the one drug selected for renegotiation in the same cycle is continuing in the program [1].
The 15 drugs are payable under Medicare Part B, covered under Medicare Part D, or both [1]. Negotiations over their prices will happen in 2026, and any agreed prices — called maximum fair prices, or MFPs, in the law — would take effect beginning in 2028 [1].
Under the program, CMS publishes a single negotiated price for a 30-day equivalent supply of each selected drug, along with a per-unit price and a per-package price tied to individual national drug codes [1]. The agency did not name the drugs or the companies in the participation announcement, and no prices for this cycle have been set [1]. CMS's negotiation page includes a separate fact sheet on the 2028 selected drug list and the drug selected for renegotiation [1].
The third cycle follows two earlier rounds. In the first, 10 Medicare Part D drugs were selected, and their negotiated prices took effect on January 1, 2026 [1]. In the second, 15 Part D drugs were selected, with prices taking effect January 1, 2027 [1]. CMS has posted explanations of how it reached those second-cycle prices for each drug, including Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy, which are all semaglutide [1].
CMS maintains a file of selected drugs and their negotiated prices that is updated at least once a year to show inflation-adjusted prices, and more often to add or remove drug codes or to account for a drug that is no longer selected [1].
Why it matters for patients
For people on Medicare who take any drug on the 2028 list, the participation decision keeps the process moving toward a negotiated price taking effect that year [1]. But agreeing to negotiate is not the same as setting a price. The talks happen in 2026, and the maximum fair prices for this cycle have not been published [1].
Which drugs are on the 2028 list matters to patients, and the March 13 announcement does not identify them [1]. Those names appear in CMS's separate fact sheet on the 2028 selected drug list [1]. The one drug being renegotiated is also not named in the announcement [1]. It has not been reported whether any GLP-1 medication is among the drugs selected for this cycle.
For patients following GLP-1 drugs specifically, the semaglutide products Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy were part of the second cycle, and their negotiated prices begin January 1, 2027 [1]. CMS has published an explanation of that negotiation [1].
What happens next
- Negotiations for the third cycle run during 2026 [1].
- Any negotiated prices from that cycle start in 2028 [1].
- Second-cycle prices for 15 Part D drugs, including Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy, begin January 1, 2027 [1].
- CMS continues to publish and update its selected drug and negotiated price file, at minimum once a year [1].
Sources
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