The news: A new executive order issued by President Donald Trump includes a potentially significant change to Medicare’s drug price negotiation program.

Zooming in: The order targets high drug prices through a series of proposed measures. Most notably, it instructs Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to work with Congress to ensure parity in the timeline for when drugs become eligible for price negotiations.

For context, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed under the Biden administration in 2022 gives Medicare the authority to negotiate prices for high-expenditure drugs. The program stipulates that small molecule drugs (typically made as pills) can be subject to price cuts nine years following FDA approval. In contrast, the price of biologics (typically delivered via injections and infusions) wouldn’t be eligible for price reductions until 13 years post-FDA approval.