More than 50 members of Congress from both parties are asking the Trump administration to scrap a proposed Medicare policy they say could discourage drugmakers from developing improved cancer treatments.
In a letter dated Sept. 21 and obtained by Fox News Digital, the lawmakers asked Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz to remove a proposed “fixed-dose combination” policy from the agency’s final rule implementing Medicare’s Drug Price Negotiation Program.
That program was created under the Inflation Reduction Act, the drug-pricing law former President Joe Biden signed in 2022. The Trump administration’s CMS proposed the specific policy in question this past June, as part of the ongoing work to carry out the negotiation program.
The dispute centers on how Medicare treats newer versions of existing drugs when deciding which medicines are subject to price negotiation. Lawmakers say the proposed rule would force some improved treatments into negotiations almost immediately after they win Food and Drug Administration approval, rather than after the longer runway currently allowed for new drugs.
CMS has said the policy is meant to stop drugmakers from dodging or delaying negotiated Medicare prices by making minor tweaks to existing drugs and relaunching them as supposedly new products.
But the lawmakers argue the rule would sweep up genuine medical advances along with any gaming of the system. They pointed to progress in cancer immunotherapy, where some patients can now receive a quick injection instead of a lengthy intravenous infusion — a change they say makes treatment faster, easier and more accessible, especially for people in rural areas.
“If finalized, the proposed fixed-dose combination policy would subject these advancements to negotiation almost immediately after FDA approval, harming patient access as well as incentives to develop these improved therapies,” the lawmakers wrote.
The letter also notes that the FDA already treats these newer therapies as distinct medicines, requiring their own clinical trials and separate approvals. The lawmakers argue CMS should follow that same logic and treat them as separate drugs for negotiation purposes as well.
They further contend that CMS’s own actuaries have not demonstrated the policy would generate meaningful savings for taxpayers.
“Patients fighting cancer deserve access to the most advanced new therapies, and if CMS finalizes this proposal, those advances are less likely to reach those who need it the most,” the letter states.
The letter urges CMS to withdraw the proposal entirely, adding: “The patients we represent need policies that expand access to lifesaving care and reward medical progress and innovation in the treatment of deadly diseases.”
Signers include Reps. John Joyce, R-Pa., Darin LaHood, R-Ill., Mike Kennedy, R-Utah, Tim Moore, R-N.C., Jim Costa, D-Calif., and Donald Davis, D-N.C., among more than 50 lawmakers from both parties.
CMS could not immediately be reached for comment.
