WASHINGTON — Ninety-eight days may end up costing Johnson & Johnson.
When Medicare this week announced the first 10 medicines that will be included in its brand-new drug price negotiation program, a J&J drug called Stelara, a treatment for Crohn’s disease, was on the list. But had the therapy been approved 98 days later, it may not have made the list at all. Stelara, in other words, got extremely unlucky.
Democrats had placed a loophole in the law establishing the negotiation program to allow drugs with competitors coming to market soon to escape negotiation, at least for a couple years. But Stelara was approved by the Food and Drug Administration 98 days too early to qualify for that exemption.