Medicare Pilot Program Known As Guard, Which Aims to Lower Retail Drug Prices Under Medicare Part D, Would Lose 71% of Its Potential Savings

Biotechs are lobbying the Trump administration to exempt these drugs from the program, which uses a most-favored-nation approach to align U.S. prices with those in other wealthy countries. Thomas Hwang, who heads the Cancer Innovation and Regulation Initiative at Harvard Medical School, said that if all companies agreeing to most-favored-nation deals were exempted, savings would drop by 71%. Separately, AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb are not in talks over a potential merger, a source told, quashing speculation of a deal that could have created a pharmaceutical giant worth nearly $400 billion. The Financial Times had reported preliminary discussions on Sunday, but the, said no deal exists or is being discussed.