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GM’s new all-electric Cadillac concept car is designed to preview how the automaker plans to keep its high-performance V-Series vehicles relevant for EVs.
The vehicle is called “Opulent Velocity,” and Cadillac says it’s a balance of ultra-luxury and performance for the V-Series, which is best known for cars with high-performance engines.
Electric vehicles can offer a solid performance, but automakers still face challenges on how to differentiate the vehicles and create the same excitement that the sound, or “roar,” of a traditional performance vehicle gives.

Cadillac Opulent Velocity concept EV

DETROIT — General Motors on Friday revealed a new all-electric Cadillac concept car designed to preview how the automaker plans to keep its high-performance V-Series vehicles relevant for EVs.
The vehicle is called “Opulent Velocity.” True to the name, Cadillac says it’s a balance of ultra-luxury and performance for the V-Series, which is best known for cars with high-performance engines such as the 6.2-liter V8 Blackwing, rated at more than 600 horsepower and pound feet of torque.

“What we’re really looking to do is achieve kind of the best of both worlds. What is kind of the ultimate hyper-performance machine in the future, coupled with ultimate luxury,” Bryan Nesbitt, Cadillac executive global design director, said during a media briefing.

Cadillac Opulent Velocity concept EV

Electric vehicles can offer a solid performance when it comes to acceleration, such as 0-60 mph times of three seconds or less, but automakers still face challenges on how to differentiate the vehicles and create the same excitement that the sound, or “roar,” of a traditional performance vehicle gives.
Nesbitt and other Cadillac officials stressed that performance for EVs isn’t just about 0-60 mph times. They said it’s about handling, as well as technologies on the vehicle, including interior features such as biometrics and driver-assistance technologies such as GM’s Super Cruise.
“The intent in all of this is to continue to elevate the brand,” Nesbitt said.
Cadillac released few details about the concept vehicle, which automakers routinely use to gauge customer interest or show the future direction of a vehicle or brand. The vehicles are not meant to be sold to consumers.

Cadillac Opulent Velocity concept EV

The concept car is a sleek, future-looking sports car. It features “scissor” doors that rotate vertically at a fixed hinge at the front of the door. It was revealed in connection to Monterey Car Week and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance car show in California.
Much like the bespoke, $300,000 Celestiq car from Cadillac, the concept is meant to move Cadillac more upmarket to compete against the likes of Lamborghini and EV startup Rimac as opposed to traditional competitors such as Ford’s Lincoln brand.
Cadillac’s sales were down 1.7% through the first half of the year compared with the first six months of 2023. All of its vehicles experienced sales declines aside from its all-electric Cadillac Lyriq crossover.

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Private jet flights fell 15% in the first half of the year compared with their peak in 2022.
The industry is grappling with waning demand and a new competitive landscape for high-end travel.
Industry experts say some of the smaller charter operators may soon face tough decisions, as fleets sit idle and demand falls.

A Gulfstream G-IV private jet flies past clouds at sunset on approach to Washington’s Reagan National Airport on June 12, 2024, in Arlington, Virginia.
J. David Ake | Getty Images

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
Private jet flights fell 15% in the first half of the year compared with their peak in 2022, as the industry grapples with waning demand and a new competitive landscape for high-end travel.

Despite a short boost from the Summer Olympics, with a record 713 private jet flights to Paris the last week of July, the private jet industry continues to lose altitude this travel season. Private jet charter flights dropped to 610,000 in the first half of the year, down from 645,000 last year and 716,000 in 2022, according to data from Argus International.
The two-year decline highlights the ongoing correction in the world of private aviation, as the surge of new jet card members and charter fliers who started traveling private for the first time during Covid pulls back. Even ultra-wealthy travelers are showing signs of spending fatigue.
“During the peak, everyone was saying, ‘People who fly private for the first time will never go back to commercial,'” said Rob Wiesenthal, CEO of Blade Air Mobility, the air charter and helicopter company. “Well guess what? Many went back. And they’re still going back.”
The industry is still ahead of 2019 levels, and experts say if you take out the aberrational spike in 2021 and 2022, business has been rising along its usual growth path. Yet the boom times of the post-Covid era created a wave of euphoria in the industry, ushering in a burst of IPOs and startups, and a mad scramble for jets and pilots. Now, many say, all that expansion is setting the stage for a shakeout.   

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Wheels Up, which went public in 2021 through a SPAC, saw its stock plummet more than 90% before Delta Air Lines stepped in to help rescue the company with an investment and partnership. Wheels Up has never made a quarterly profit and last week reported a second-quarter net loss of $97 million and a 29% year-over-year decline in members.

The company’s CEO, George Mattson, said Wheels Up is making solid progress and that, “Our work this quarter further solidified our position at the forefront of delivering integrated global aviation solutions that seamlessly combine the previously separate ecosystems of private and commercial travel.”
Jet It, a large U.S. private jet operator, shut down last year after grounding its fleet of Phenom 300s, Gulfstream G150s and HondaJets. VistaJet has faced repeated concerns and media reports about its debt load, though founder and Chairman Thomas Flohr told CNBC in May that “all documents and data was always available to our equity and debt-holders.”
Industry experts say some of the smaller charter operators may soon face tough decisions, as fleets sit idle and demand falls.
“The smaller operators with three, four or five jets, they’re the ones hurting,” said Doug Gollan, founder and editor of Private Jet Card Comparisons.

The recent challenges and fleeting success in private aviation trace back to Covid. In 2020, as airports and airlines shut down, private jets offered an escape and safer way to fly. Wealthy travelers who had rarely, if ever, flown private due to the cost and energy consumption, could now justify isolating at 40,000 feet.
“There was this whole section of the population that could afford to fly private, but they were always reluctant because they didn’t like the optics,” said Jay Duckson, founder and president of consulting firm Central Business Jets. “With Covid, they had a reason to fly private. You had a massive uptick in demand.”
The flood of liquidity from government spending, stimulus, low interest rates and a booming stock market also created record amounts of wealth to pay the soaring costs of flying private. Companies rushed to buy planes, hire pilots and sign up new members. Before 2019, there were only a few months where private jet charters topped 100,000. In 2021, almost every month exceeded 100,000, with July 2021 topping 300,000 flights.
The demand overwhelmed the industry. Private jet passengers who paid six figures for flights started facing delays and cancellations as operators couldn’t buy or lease planes fast enough. Shortages of pilots and parts also grounded fleets.
In 2023, demand started to slide even as more planes and pilots started to come online. Some wealthy fliers felt they could no longer use Covid as an excuse — to themselves or to others — to fly private. For others, the soaring prices of flying private simply got out of hand.
“Prices are about 20% higher than they were in 2019,” Private Jet Card Comparisons’ Gollan said. “A lot of people are saying, ‘I spent $300,000 or $350,000 on flights last year, I’m not going to spend $400,000 or $450,000 this year.’ Even if they have the money, they have a dollar figure in their head they don’t want to go over.”
Along with reducing flights, some fliers simply started flying commercial for easy city-to-city trips, mixing both commercial and private throughout the year. In his latest survey of private jet fliers, Gollan found 87% “switch between airlines and private, depending on where they’re flying.” 
With demand lower, unsold planes are piling up again and prices are softening. The number of used business jets for sale jumped 17% in July compared with a year ago, according to a report from Jefferies. Prices fell 7%, according to the report. While orders for new jets remain strong, the wait times have fallen from as much as three or four years to about two years for many models, according to jet brokers.
Many industry executives welcome the drop in demand, saying the industry is returning to a more balanced equilibrium, with profitable routes, available planes and happier customers.
“The industry is on a more sustainable long-term path,” said Travis Kuhn, senior vice president of software at Argus. “It’s not a bad thing that it’s cooled down a bit.”
Gollan said that while some of occasional fliers may have drifted out of private aviation, the “heavy users” are still flying. His survey showed that 95% of those surveyed who started flying private during Covid are still flying privately, with 77% in a membership, jet card or fractional program.
Industry giant NetJets, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, has also benefited, as more people switched from charter to fractional ownership due to better reliability and quality. The number of fractional flights actually increased 12% in the first half of 2024, to 308,000, according to Argus.
“Some of these new fliers looked around and assessed the market, and they like the fractional model,” Kuhn said. “It’s a set number of hours and a bigger fleet.”

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Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032. More

Gilead Sciences says counterfeit versions of its HIV medications were being sold out of two New York pharmacies.
Court documents alleged a twice-convicted medical fraudster wearing a court-ordered GPS ankle monitor was behind the scheme.
For years, Gilead has launched anti-counterfeiting efforts against fraudsters who tamper with the company’s packaging and medications to treat HIV.

Gilead HIV prescription bottles seized at Best Scripts pharmacy.
Courtesy: Gilead Sciences

Gilead Sciences says it uncovered a dangerous drug-counterfeiting operation in which its HIV medications were tampered with and improperly resold before reaching patients.
The scheme, allegedly run out of two New York City pharmacies, identified Peter Khaim, a twice-convicted medical fraudster, as the mastermind, according to court documents unsealed this month. The company described Khaim as one of the most brazen and largest manufacturers and sellers of counterfeit Gilead medications in the country.

Gilead sued Khaim along with the pharmacies, 71st RX and Best Scripts, both located in Queens, and others it claims were connected to the counterfeiting scheme. Gilead’s complaint said Khaim controlled the two pharmacies.
“The defendants and their co-conspirators manufactured and trafficked these counterfeit Gilead-branded HIV medications to pharmacies and patients in at least New York and New Jersey, putting untold numbers of patients’ health and safety at risk,” the lawsuit, filed by attorney Geoffrey Potter of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, said.
Gilead says in its complaint that counterfeiters used its authentic prescription bottles, but tampered with the actual medication or associated documentation.
“In some cases, the bottles had their contents emptied, were refilled with the wrong medication, and then were re-resealed using a different material than Gilead’s authentic tamper-evident seals,” the complaint said. “The co-conspirators then sold the counterfeit bottles with counterfeit patient information documents, counterfeit caps, and/or counterfeit pedigrees or invoices.”
The majority of the Gilead HIV medications seized in the case were Biktarvy and Descovy.

Victims include both “patients living with HIV who are preyed upon by Defendants and convinced to give up taking their prescribed medication,” and “patients who go to their neighborhood pharmacy and, unbeknownst to them, are dispensed a sealed, authentic-looking bottle,” but instead receive a counterfeit, Gilead said in the complaint.
Gilead attorneys and private investigators, accompanied by deputies from the New York City Sheriff’s Office, conducted seizures at the two pharmacies and Khaim’s home in July, taking more than $750,000 of suspected counterfeit medication, the court filing said.
An attorney for Khaim declined to comment.

Lighter fluid found with Gilead medications during the seizure at Best Scripts pharmacy.
Source: Gilead lawsuit exhibit

The case is the second major civil complaint by Gilead against Khaim in connection with counterfeit HIV medications in the legal supply chain. Gilead sued Khaim and others in 2021 and obtained an injunction prohibiting him from selling Gilead-branded products. In that case, according to Gilead, Khaim made more than $38 million selling counterfeit Gilead medications to distributors and directly to pharmacies.
Despite the injunction, Khaim continued to oversee a counterfeiting operation from the two Queens pharmacies, the latest complaint says.
In unrelated criminal schemes, Khaim received 96 months in prison on a medical fraud case and 15 years on a separate insurance fraud scheme. He was wearing a court-ordered GPS ankle monitor while awaiting sentencing in the medical fraud case and also while he was operating the pharmacies and selling the counterfeit medication, according to documents in the case file.
“This lawsuit is another clear demonstration of our ongoing commitment to put patient safety first and protect individuals from criminals who are trying to sell counterfeit and illicit versions of Gilead’s medicines,” Gilead said in a statement to CNBC. “In addition to this lawsuit, we continue to work closely with the FDA, OIG, FBI and prosecutors to dismantle counterfeiting networks, deter fraudsters, and thwart illegal pharmaceutical distribution.”
Last year, a CNBC investigation revealed the shadowy world of counterfeit drugs and how Gilead was fighting to stop criminals from altering its packaging and medications.
In many cases, according to Gilead and law enforcement officials, counterfeiters obtain medications from patients who sell them for cash. The labels are typically removed with lighter fluid and the bottles resealed and dispensed to other patients. In this most recent case against Khaim, lighter fluid was found at the pharmacies during the seizures, court documents said.

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Legacy media companies including Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global and Comcast entered the streaming market with a focus on gaining subscribers but are now looking for a return on their investments.
Their strategies include cheaper, ad-supported models, platform bundles and a crackdown on password sharing, though price hikes have shown more immediate results toward profitability.
That means consumers are facing higher subscription costs with increasingly frequent price hikes.

Jaque Silva | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Streaming is finally starting to pay off for media companies, but there’s a catch — to get there, consumers are facing higher subscription costs and increasingly frequent price hikes.
Legacy media companies entered the streaming market with a focus on gaining subscribers and competing with category leader Netflix as traditional cable TV bundles lose customers. Now, looking for a return on their content investments, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and others are aiming for streaming profits.

Their strategies include rolling out cheaper, ad-supported models; launching platform bundles; and cracking down on password sharing, but price hikes have shown more immediate results toward profitability.
“The years of prioritizing user growth with low prices are over,” said Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at Forrester.
Disney said last week that its combined streaming services — Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ — were profitable for the first time during its fiscal third quarter. Although the company added new subscribers, that milestone was largely due to price increases.
CEO Bob Iger said during an earnings call that Disney has “earned” its pricing in the marketplace due to the company’s creative contributions and product improvements. He noted that with past price increases, the company hasn’t seen a “significant” number of customer departures.
“When we look across our portfolio … we’re seeing growth in consumption and the popularity of our offerings, which gives us the pricing leverage that we believe we have,” Iger said.

Climbing prices

The major streaming services have gone through a number of price hikes and changes throughout the past few years.
In just the past five months, four streamers have announced price increases: Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max, Comcast’s Peacock, Disney and Paramount.

Ahead of earnings, Disney announced it’s raising streaming prices by $1 to $2 a month for Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+.
Similar to Disney, Paramount Global said last week in its quarterly earnings conference call that its streaming business, centered on flagship service Paramount+, reached profitability.
Paramount noted on the call that global average revenue per user grew 26% for Paramount+, which reflected a price increase during the third quarter of 2023. Meanwhile, additional price increases for Paramount+ go into effect this month, and the company expects to see a financial impact for that during the fourth quarter.
Though Comcast’s Peacock offered a limited-time annual subscription for $19.99 ahead of the Olympics, the company raised the monthly cost of the service’s ad-supported tier by $2 this summer, marking its second price hike of the year. Warner Bros. Discovery also increased the cost of Max without ads by $1 per month in June.
“For a decade in streaming, an enormously valuable amount of quality content has been given away well below fair market value. And I think that’s in the process of being corrected,” Warner Bros. Discovery finance chief Gunnar Wiedenfels said during an industry conference last year. “We’ve seen price increases across essentially the entire competitive set.”
When Disney reported a revenue increase in its most recent quarter, it was primarily driven by higher subscription prices, said Forrester’s Proulx, since user growth and ad revenue alone won’t sustain profitability.
That puts the burden of revenue growth somewhat on consumers’ shoulders, he said. And users are feeling the strain.
In a survey of 3,000 consumers, 90% agreed that streaming video subscriptions are raising their prices more often than they were in the past, according to Hub Entertainment Research.

Ad support

Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

Meanwhile, companies are pushing consumers toward ad-supported tiers — which are often cheaper than commercial-free streaming — in a bid to attract more advertisers, Proulx said.
And many of those consumers are taking the option.
“We expect meaningful growth ahead as more subscribers opt for the ad-lite tier, which represented over 40% of global gross adds last quarter,” Warner Bros. Discovery’s Wiedenfels said during last week’s earnings call. Ad lite references Max’s cheapest subscription tier
Media companies have noted that advertising has grown for streaming. Warner Bros. Discovery said during its second-quarter earnings conference call that streaming ad revenue doubled year over year.
Similarly, revenue from advertising grew 16% in Paramount’s second quarter, driven by Paramount+ and Pluto TV, according to the company.
At Peacock, 75% of subscribers were on the ad-supported tier as of February of last year, according to research from Antenna. At the time it was the largest share of any of the major streamers, followed by Hulu at 57% and Paramount+ at 43%. The streaming companies don’t typically disclose the breakdown of subscriptions by tier.
“The advertising tier for all these companies is appealing because they can make as much off of ad revenues as they make off of the subscription fee on the ad tier,” said Tim Nollen, senior media tech analyst at Macquarie.
Netflix executives chafed against advertising for some time but pivoted in 2022 following a slowdown in subscriber growth. The company also recently nixed its cheapest, ad-free basic plan — leaving consumers with the choice of a $6.99 ad-supported option, or two ad-free plans that cost $15.49 or $22.99.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in the company’s second-quarter earnings call that the ad tier makes Netflix more accessible to users due to the low entry price. For both tiers, when it comes to raising prices, Sarandos said Netflix aims to increase value and engagement before having subscribers pay more.
Generally, price-pinched streaming consumers are willing to tolerate ads in order to pay lower subscription fees, according to Forrester’s research. Still, ad tiers aren’t immune to price increases. Disney+ is now raising prices of its ad-supported plan, for example.
Disney took a unique approach to launching its ad tier in December 2022, giving existing subscribers the option to either pay an additional $3 per month or accept ads. Nearly 95% of Disney+ premium plan subscribers paid to maintain ad-free streaming, according to Antenna.
Warner Bros. Discovery said in an earnings conference call that it suffered fewer customer losses than expected in July, following its $1 price increase on ad-free streaming.
“Until there’s a mass exodus of users, Disney (and others) will continue to increase prices,” Proulx said.

Keeping subscribers

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images

There’s one key thing that’s working to streamers’ advantage: Across platforms, users aren’t often willing to sacrifice their desired content even when costs go up, said Hub Entertainment Research founder Jon Giegengack.
However, the total cost of streaming can sometimes exceed that of cable for certain consumers because the content they’re consuming is broken up across the different platforms, according to Proulx.
In response, companies including Disney, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have turned to bundling their services into a single, discounted offering. In cases where streaming is no longer cheaper than traditional television, bundles allow consumers to save money while accessing TV content across different services, according to Proulx.
For providers, bundles are an opportunity to increase revenue because they expect fewer people to cancel their bundled subscriptions than stand-alone ones, according to Nollen.
“The new world of streaming is not as lucrative as the old world of pay TV was,” Nollen said. “Everybody has woken up to that, and they are coming up with ways to try to at least improve its fortunes, and bundling is one.” 
Streamers are also growing their total users by cracking down on password sharing. Last year, Netflix alerted members that accounts can only be shared within a single household, and Disney made a similar announcement earlier this year. Warner Bros. Discovery will soon follow suit.
Nonetheless, as consumers continue to face rising subscription costs, Giegengack points to a broader streaming competition. While low subscription prices initially helped other streamers grow subscribers, he said they can’t afford to keep doing that.
“The amount that people have been able to pay for, the volume of content they get up until now, is just an absurdly good deal, and I don’t think it’s sustainable,” Giegengack said.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC, and is a co-owner of Hulu. NBCUniversal also owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics, which is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.

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Ford Motor is updating its Lincoln Navigator to include a 48-inch front display.
The large SUV also comes with spa and gaming modes as part of the “Lincoln Rejuvenate” feature, which is meant to create a calming environment for the driver.
The automaker said pricing for the 2025 Navigator will start under $100,000, but more detailed pricing will be released closer to the vehicle going on sale in spring 2025.

2025 Lincoln Navigator

Ford Motor is updating its Lincoln Navigator to include a 48-inch front display that can be used as a “sanctuary” for spa lovers and gamers alike.
The new feature comes as the automaker has redesigned the exterior and interior of the vehicle for the 2025 model year — and as the Ford luxury brand attempts to differentiate Navigator amid declining sales of the large SUV.

“The all-new Navigator is more than just a vehicle; it can become a home away from home and a third space that rejuvenates clients in an entirely new way on and off the road,” Lincoln president Dianne Craig said in a release.
The “sanctuary” mode is part of the “Lincoln Rejuvenate” feature, which is meant to create a calming environment for the driver. Once initiated when parked, the driver’s seat automatically slides backward, reclines, warms slightly and makes massaging motions.

2025 Lincoln Navigator

The mode — in five- or 10-minute increments — also changes the vehicle’s climate, releases refreshing scents and plays relaxing videos and sounds such as a waterfall. Scent choices are mystic forest, ozonic azure and violet cashmere.
The vehicle comes preloaded with a “waterfall meditation” experience in partnership with meditation and sleep app company Calm; two other themes — “aurora borealis” and “elements” — are included with purchase.
“Navigator is the flagship of the Lincoln brand and represents our ultimate expression of sanctuary,” Craig said.

The large, horizontal screen and rejuvenate modes initially debuted on the 2024 Lincoln Nautilus, but the Navigator’s bigger interior allowed for further enhancements.

2025 Lincoln Navigator

If a driver prefers to turn to media for relaxation instead of having a spa experience, the front display can be split to play video and gaming apps while the vehicle is parked. Games currently include Asphalt Nitro 2, Angry Birds and Beach Buggy Racing 2.
The up-to-eight passenger SUV will continue to be powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 engine with 440 horsepower and 510 pound-feet of torque. It also comes standard with the BlueCruise advanced driver-assistance system, which allows for hands-free driving on highways.
Ford said pricing for the 2025 Navigator will start under $100,000, but more detailed pricing will be released closer to the vehicle going on sale in spring 2025. The starting pricing for current models ranges from $83,000 to more than $114,000.
The Navigator’s current average transaction price is more than $101,300, according to Lincoln.
Lincoln’s sales were up 23.4% year over year through July, however, sales of the Navigator were off roughly 21% during that time.
The redesigned Navigator was revealed in connection to Monterey Car Week and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance car show in California.

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The Biden administration released prices or the first 10 medications subject to historic negotiations between the federal Medicare program and drugmakers.
But the announcement is just the beginning of a controversial, multi-round process that could produce more savings for taxpayers and older Americans and put more pressure on pharmaceutical companies over time.
It’s a key provision of President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law two years ago. 

U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris walk out together, at an event on Medicare drug price negotiations, in Prince George’s County, Maryland, U.S., August 15, 2024. 
Ken Cedeno | Reuters

The Biden administration on Thursday reached a milestone in Democrats’ decades-long quest to use Medicare to drive down prescription drug costs, releasing new prices for the first 10 medications subject to negotiations between the federal program and drugmakers.
But the announcement is just the beginning of a controversial, multi-round process that could save more money for taxpayers and older Americans and put more pressure on pharmaceutical companies over time. It’s a key provision of President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law almost exactly two years ago. 

The agreed-upon prices, which go into effect in 2026, set the precedent for the future rounds of negotiations that will kick off next year. Those talks will likely affect prices in the coming years for dozens more widely used drugs made by the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
“I think the expectation that people should have is that this is just the start. These are just the first ten drugs,” said Leigh Purvis, a prescription drug policy principal with AARP Public Policy Institute, an arm of the influential lobbying group that represents people older than 50, which has advocated for Medicare’s negotiation powers.
“Sometimes people get caught up in the fact that their drug isn’t on the list, but it will be on the list at some point in the future if they’re taking a drug that’s resulting in high costs,” Purvis added.
It’s unclear how much lower the negotiated prices are than the current net prices of the first 10 drugs, which are heavily rebated by Medicare Part D plans. Those net prices aren’t publicly available, making it difficult to know how much a Medicare plan and a patient would actually save on a given drug when the negotiated prices start in 2026. Copays could also differ depending on the Part D plan a patient has.
“It’s hard to know the starting point, because … those numbers are not publicly available,” said Tricia Neuman, executive director for the Program on Medicare Policy at health policy research organization KFF, referring to net prices after rebates.

Still, the Biden administration estimates that the new negotiated prices for the medications will lead to around $6 billion in net savings for the Medicare program and $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket savings for beneficiaries in 2026 alone. 
The negotiations “seemed to go relatively smoothly – the aggregate savings are fairly impressive,” Neuman said. She added as prices of more drugs are hashed out during future rounds, it will “increase the level of savings over time.” 
The price talks could also put more pressure on drugmakers in the coming years. Many of the medications in the first round of negotiations are already nearing patent expirations that will open the market to competition from cheaper generics, which will take a bite out of revenue. 
For example, Bristol Myers Squibb’s blood thinner Eliquis is slated to lose patent exclusivity in the U.S. starting on April 1, 2028. The blockbuster drug also faces patent expirations in certain EU markets in 2026.

George Frey | Reuters

But over time, drugs much further from losing market exclusivity could be selected for future rounds of negotiations, Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger said in a research note Thursday. 
By February 2025, the Biden administration will select up to 15 more drugs that will be subject to the next round of price talks, with new prices going into effect in 2027. Manufacturers will have until the end of February to decide whether to participate in the program — a no-brainer for companies as they face steep excise taxes or the loss of access to the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs if they do not. 
“It will start to get more painful over time,” Jeff Jonas, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, said in a statement Thursday. He noted, for instance, that the next round of price talks will likely include Novo Nordisk’s top-selling diabetes drug Ozempic. 
Jonas added that there was “some speculation that the government went easy on the pharma companies this year given that it is both an election year and the first time they’re doing this.” 
After the second round, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can negotiate prices for another 15 drugs that will go into effect in 2028. The number rises to 20 a year starting in 2029.
CMS will only select Medicare Part D drugs for the medicines covered by the first two years of negotiations. It will add more specialized drugs covered by Medicare Part B, which are typically administered by doctors, for the round that takes effect in 2028.
That could be a bigger threat to the pharmaceutical industry, as Medicare Part B drugs aren’t discounted as steeply as medicine covered by Part D. 
“My assumption, since rebates are limited, is they have farther to fall versus Part D drugs that are heavily rebated,” Risinger told CNBC in an interview, referring to medications covered by Part B. 
Jonas noted that negotiations for 2028 price changes could include some big cancer drugs, such as Merck’s blockbuster chemotherapy Keytruda. 
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, would likely try to expand the scope of negotiations if elected and “likely be more aggressive on the discounts,” Jonas said.
But Neuman said that whether she can pass a law to bolster the policy will depend on which party controls the House and Senate. Harris herself had to cast a tiebreaking vote in the Democratic-held Senate to pass the original law.
“There’s some interest among Democrats in Congress in doing that, but obviously the law will depend on which party is in control,” Neuman said.
The pharmaceutical industry has argued that the negotiations could cut into their revenue, profits and innovation in the long term. 
For example, Steve Ubl, the CEO of the pharmaceutical industry’s biggest lobbying group, PhRMA, said in a statement Thursday that the price talks could result in fewer treatments for cancer, mental health, rare diseases and other conditions because it “fundamentally alters” the incentives for drug development.
Medicare can start negotiating prices on small-molecule drugs as early as nine years after they receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, compared with 13 years for biologics. Small molecule drugs are made of chemicals that have low molecular weight, while biologic medicines are derived from living sources such as animals or humans.
The industry has argued that the distinction is going to deter companies from investing in small-molecule drugs.
— CNBC’s Angelica Peebles contributed to this report More

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby had been critical of Boeing as his company, a major buyer of Boeing planes, faced a series of delays from manufacturing flaws.
Robert “Kelly” Ortberg took the reins at Boeing last week promising to win back trust.
Kirby and Ortberg had lunch in the Dallas area this week.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby celebrates the opening of a new addition to its Flight Training Center in Denver, Colorado, on Feb. 22, 2024.
Hyoung Chang | Denver Post | Getty Images

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby says he is optimistic about Boeing’s recovery after meeting with the manufacturer’s new chief executive.
It’s an upbeat change of tune from the head of United, a top Boeing customer that has been among the most publicly frustrated about the plane maker’s problems, which have led to delayed deliveries of dozens of aircraft.

Kirby and Boeing’s new CEO, Robert “Kelly” Ortberg, had lunch earlier this week in the Dallas area. Kirby said in a LinkedIn post on Thursday that he “was not only encouraged by what I heard, but I also came away with a renewed confidence that Boeing is on the right path and will recover faster than most expect.”
United has 484 unfilled orders with Boeing, according to the manufacturer’s website.
Ortberg also met with American Airlines CEO Robert Isom earlier this week, according to a person familiar with the matter who wasn’t authorized to speak with the media.

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Ortberg, who previously ran commercial and defense supplier Rockwell Collins and has more than three decades of experience in the aerospace industry, took the reins at Boeing a week ago, spending part of his first day at Boeing’s 737 factory floor in Renton, Washington. Ortberg will be based in Seattle, a shift from previous leaders.
“His engineering background at Rockwell Collins, combined with an instinct to be close to his frontline teams in Seattle, makes for a winning combination,” Kirby wrote on Thursday. “It was clear from our discussion that he’s 100% engaged, understands the cultural changes needed to turn things around and is committed to listening to his employees and customers.”

United and other major customers such as Southwest Airlines have been grappling with delayed jetliners as Boeing tries to recover from its latest safety crisis in the wake of a door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 earlier this year.
No one was seriously injured in the accident — which occurred after bolts that hold the door plug in place weren’t installed before the airline received the plane — but it came after a host of other manufacturing defects on Boeing planes.
“In speaking with our customers and industry partners leading up to today, I can tell you that without exception, everyone wants us to succeed,” Ortberg said in a note to staff on his first day last Thursday. “In many cases, they NEED us to succeed.”

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Walmart said inflation was flat in its latest quarter, and revenue growth came from selling more items and drawing more visits to its stores and website, rather than higher prices.
Yet prices have remained high in some parts of the store, such as dry groceries and processed foods.
Prices at consumer brands, including Walmart, have faced more scrutiny from both consumers and politicians.

A customer pushes her shopping cart through the aisles at a Walmart store in the Porter Ranch section of Los Angeles.
Kevork Djansezian | Reuters

Prices of many groceries and other items have fallen at Walmart, according to CEO Doug McMillon.
Yet the leader of the nation’s largest retailer said Thursday that inflation “has been more stubborn” in one particular part of the store: The aisles that carry dry groceries and processed foods. Those include items like carbonated soft drinks.

On a call after the discounter posted second-quarter earnings, he said Walmart has pressured suppliers that stock its shelves to cut prices. But he called on those companies to do more.
“We have less upward pressure, but there are some that are still talking about cost increases, and we’re fighting back on that aggressively because we think prices need to come down,” he said.
Walmart’s overall inflation was flat for the quarter, and revenue growth came from selling more units, not charging higher prices, Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told CNBC. But price dynamics weren’t consistent across products: prices continued to go up for dairy, eggs, sugar and meat, and leveled off or dropped for items including pet food, apples, potatoes, strawberries, sporting goods and lawn and garden items.
Walmart’s quarterly results sparked a rally of other retail stocks, including Target, Best Buy and Macy’s on Thursday. Both the big-box discounter’s results and better-than-expected retail sales numbers defied concerns of a consumer slowdown.
Walmart beat on the top and bottom line and raised its forecast to reflect a stronger first half of the year. Rainey told CNBC consumers have continued to be “choiceful, discerning [and] value-seeking,” but the company’s leaders “don’t see any additional fraying of consumer health.”

All consumer brands, including Walmart, have been under more scrutiny from shoppers and even politicians as frustration with pricier goods persists — and McMillon’s comments about Walmart’s suppliers underscore how much pressure grocers have faced. Walmart drew criticism on TikTok for rolling out electronic price labels for store shelves, with some users contending the company will use the technology to hike prices when demand spikes. (Walmart, for its part, has said it has no plans to change its approach to pricing and added the new price tags to save store workers’ time.)
Many brands have taken pains to emphasize value or roll out new deals, particularly as consumers get more selective about where they spend their dollars.
McDonald’s, for example, launched a $5 value meal in late June and decided to extend the offer in most markets. Target in late May said it would cut prices on about 5,000 frequently shopped items throughout the summer, such as peanut butter, milk and meat.
Walmart is also touting discounts. The retailer said it had 7,200 “rollbacks,” its term for short-term deals, across categories in the quarter that ended July 31. That number included a 35% year-over-year increase in the number of rollbacks for food.
While Walmart’s profits are growing faster than sales, McMillon said that’s because of growth outside of retail in higher-margin businesses like advertising — not higher prices on goods.
“We’re not raising prices. We’re lowering prices,” McMillon said. “We don’t want product margins to go up. When we talk about margin improvement in our company, it’s business mix.” More