CMS Drug Price Negotiation – Special Feature: Preparation, Negotiation & Avoiding Deadlock: IC Fireside Chats - Episode 19
And after multiple rounds of CMS drug price negotiations, one thing is becoming clear:
The biggest problems rarely begin with CMS.
They begin inside underprepared organisations trying to negotiate under extreme pressure.
In this extended special feature edition of IC Fireside Chats, Omar Ali and Adam Buckler draw on direct experience supporting manufacturers through every round of IPAY negotiations so far.
Unlike our shorter Fireside Chat episodes, this deeper-dive discussion focuses specifically on how manufacturers prepare for CMS drug price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act, and where teams are struggling most.
Across three connected discussions, they explain how manufacturers are approaching IPAY28 readiness, why negotiation teams are breaking down under pressure, and how experienced organisations avoid deadlock during negotiations with the US government.
IPAY28 Preparation: How Manufacturers Are Preparing for CMS Drug Price Negotiations
1min 42s
One of the clearest lessons emerging from earlier IPAY cycles is that preparation timelines are moving much earlier.
Manufacturers are no longer treating CMS negotiation preparation as a late-stage pricing exercise. Teams preparing successfully for IPAY28 are already aligning internal stakeholders, stress-testing negotiation scenarios, pressure-testing evidence strategy, and identifying where governance and decision-making weaknesses could emerge long before formal CMS engagement begins.
CMS drug price negotiations increasingly function as organisational stress tests, not just pricing negotiations.
Why Underprepared Negotiation Teams Struggle During CMS Negotiations
5min 53s
Strong data alone is not enough.
Across previous IPAY rounds, some of the biggest negotiation problems have emerged from internal misalignment: unclear ownership, governance gaps, slow decision-making, poorly defined escalation routes, and negotiation teams assembled too late to operate effectively under pressure.
Omar and Adam explain what manufacturers are learning from earlier CMS negotiations, how experienced teams are structuring negotiation readiness differently for IPAY28, and why negotiation rehearsal is becoming a critical part of preparation.
Under pressure, weak governance gets exposed very quickly.
Avoiding Deadlock in CMS Drug Price Negotiations
11min 37s
What happens when negotiations with CMS stop moving?
This section examines how deadlock develops during drug price negotiations with the US government — and why rigid positioning can quickly become dangerous for both manufacturers and CMS itself.
Rather than treating deadlock as a dramatic end-point, Omar and Adam explain how experienced teams maintain leverage while preserving enough strategic flexibility to keep negotiations moving forward. The discussion explores the practical realities of negotiation pressure, organisational alignment, and maintaining momentum during high-stakes CMS engagement.
Deadlock usually starts long before negotiations actually stop.
Who Will Find This IPAY28 Special Feature Useful?
This special feature will be especially valuable for:
teams preparing for future IPAY negotiations
US pricing and market access leaders
HEOR and evidence strategy teams
negotiation leads preparing for CMS engagement
teams trying to align pricing, evidence, legal, commercial, and executive stakeholders ahead of negotiation
senior leaders responsible for Inflation Reduction Act readiness and organisational planning
If your organisation is asking:
“How should we prepare for IPAY28?”
“What does CMS negotiation preparation actually involve?”
“How early should negotiation teams start preparing?”
“Why are some manufacturers struggling during CMS negotiations?”
“How do you avoid deadlock during drug price negotiations?”
…this discussion is designed to help answer those questions.
If your organisation has not started preparing yet, now is the time.
CMS negotiations are no longer just pricing exercises.
They are organisational stress tests.
The manufacturers best positioned for IPAY28 are already building negotiation capability, alignment, governance, and rehearsal processes now.
Email omar.ali@verpora.com
to engage a team with direct experience of every round of IPAY negotiations so far.
Disclaimer: This presentation is for educational and informational purposes only, and is not intended as legal or policy advice. This presentation is based on non-confidential intelligence. Views expressed by the speakers are personal opinions and should not be attributed to anyone else. No part of this presentation may be reproduced for commercial purposes without the express permission of Verpora.
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