TOPLINE:

Launch prices for Medicare Part D anticancer drugs have risen sharply since 2012, with a mean increase of $1694 per year. In 2025, the observed prices were 15%-200% higher than expected if the increases were due to inflation alone, but the gap between observed and inflation-adjusted prices narrowed over the study period.

METHODOLOGY:

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 introduced price negotiation for Medicare-covered drugs and required manufacturers to pay rebates to Medicare for price increases above inflation. But it did not address the launch prices of new drugs.

Anticancer drugs, a protected drug class with mandatory Medicare Part D coverage, may now be especially prone to higher launch prices, in part because the Inflation Reduction Act limits out-of-pocket spending and

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