July 29 (Reuters) - Four pharmaceutical companies

involved in the first U.S. negotiations over prices for the

Medicare program said they do not expect a significant impact on

their businesses after seeing confidential suggested prices from

the government for their drugs that will take effect in 2026.

Top executives from Bristol Myers Squibb ( BMY ), Johnson &

Johnson ( JNJ ), AbbVie ( ABBV ) and AstraZeneca ( AZN ), which

have five of the 10 drugs chosen for the first wave of

negotiations, described their newly informed views on quarterly

conference calls.

The U.S. Medicare health program spends billions of dollars

annually on drugs for 66 million people ages 65 and older or who

have disabilities. It is expected to announce 2026 cuts to list

prices of at least 25% by Sept. 1.

"I think the drugmakers were frightened (these prices) would

be a big deal. But now, the ones who have reported or commented

have actually said it seems to be OK and in line with

expectations," UBS analyst Trung Huynh said in an interview.

Under President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, signed

into law in 2022, the Medicare agency was required to identify

the 100 most expensive drugs in the program and pick 10 for

price negotiations that began last year.

Bristol Myers CEO Chris Boerner on Friday said the company

was increasingly confident it could navigate the IRA's impact on

the blockbuster blood thinner Eliquis it shares with Pfizer ( PFE )

, having seen the government price.

Still Boerner, along with AbbVie's ( ABBV ) CEO, reiterated industry

concerns that the government was "price setting" under the

program and that the practice would harm innovation.

Two analysts said they expected the government program to

reduce the list prices of these drugs by between 50% and 60%

based on drugmakers' comments.

It is common for drugmakers to provide discounts off the

list price based on sales volume, but those discounts are not

public.

Several drugmakers as well as industry lobbying groups PhRMA

and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed lawsuits to stop the

prices from going into effect, which have largely failed.

"As expected, price setting has been a flawed and political

process," said Nicole Longo, spokeswoman for PhRMA.

She said the program has operated without making clear how

it incorporates feedback from patients, providers, and

manufacturers into the price, accusing it of putting government

cuts ahead of patients.

AbbVie ( ABBV ) CEO Robert Michael said last week the company has

included the expected sales hit to its blockbuster leukemia drug

Imbruvica in its forecasts.

"We've come out and said that even with modeling that impact

in, that we still expect to deliver on our long-term outlook,"

Michael said.

J&J executive Jennifer Taubert said the company's long-term

growth forecast "still looks very good to us today," after

seeing the discounts suggested by the government for its

top-selling psoriasis drug Stelara and blood thinner Xarelto,

which are among the first 10 chosen for negotiations.

J.P. Morgan analyst Chris Schott said in a note that

comments by Bristol and J&J suggest they received more

reasonable price cuts than initially feared.

The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, which runs

the program, did not respond to a request for comment.

An AstraZeneca ( AZN ) executive last week said the company expected

a limited impact because its diabetes drug Farxiga will face

competition from cheaper generic drugs around three months after

the new price takes effect in 2026.

At least five of the other drugs on the initial government

list, including Merck & Co's ( MRK ) diabetes drug Januvia and

Amgen's ( AMGN ) rheumatoid arthritis treatment Enbrel, are

expected to face generic competition by 2029, according to

Guggenheim Partners analyst Vamil Divan.