Azar Warns Pharma That Administration Will Be ‘Turning On The Pressure’ As He Defends President’s Drug Plan

The New York Times: Trump Administration Defends Plan To Lower Prescription Drug Prices
The Trump administration hit back on Monday against critics of President Trump’s plan to reduce prescription drug prices, saying his ideas would be far more effective than remedies championed by Democrats. Democrats have long supported two proposals that Mr. Trump endorsed during the 2016 presidential campaign. The government, they say, should directly negotiate with drug manufacturers to obtain lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries. And consumers, they say, should be allowed to import pills from Canada and certain other developed countries where brand-name drugs often cost less. (Pear, 5/14)

Stat: Azar Suggests Trump Will Call Out Drug Companies Behind Major Price Hikes
Days after President Trump delivered a speech on prescription drug prices that was notably light on criticism of the pharmaceutical industry, his health secretary on Monday struck a far more aggressive tone, warning that the administration would be “turning on the pressure” on drug makers. The American public, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said, deserves to know which companies are “gouging consumers.” (Facher, 5/14)

USA Today: No Medicare Drugs Negotiations, But Co-Payments Could Increase
Federal health officials Monday targeted drug makers and companies that negotiate drug benefits as they provided more details to back up President Trump's plan to lower drug prices. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar bristled Monday at criticism that the plan Trump announced Friday does not go far enough. He said the plan has more teeth than critics claimed. But some consumer advocates weren't convinced. (O'Donnell, 5/14)

Reuters: U.S. To Consider Expanding Medicare Drug Price Negotiation
Azar, a former pharmaceutical company executive, said Trump views tougher negotiation as key to the plan. Azar said his agency will consider an alternative system for buying Medicare Part B drugs, which are administered by a healthcare provider and covered directly by the government, such as many cancer treatments and infused biotech drugs. The administration would seek to allow private payers to negotiate the price of those medicines, as health insurers and PBMs already do in Medicare Part D, which covers drugs patients get at the pharmacy. (Abutaleb and Erman, 5/14)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Looks To Alter 340B Patient Definition, Regulatory Authority For Drug Pricing Initiative
In a newly released request for information, the Trump administration asked 340B stakeholders to weigh in on measures that have been floated in Congress, including a "patient definition" that would specify who qualifies for the drug discount, and moving 340B regulatory authority to HHS. The agency also want feedback on whether 340B's growth has raised list prices in the commercial market and ultimately affected payers, including Part D plans. The request hints at a broader strategy on the program than was outlined in President Donald Trump's drug pricing blueprint on Friday, one that has already picked up steam. (Luthi, 5/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Health-Agency Chiefs Defend Trump’s Plan To Lower Drug Prices
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, in remarks delivered in Washington, backed the president’s decision not to allow for the importation of American-made drugs from other countries such as Canada, a move Mr. Trump previously had suggested he favored. Mr. Azar said there is no way to ensure such drugs are really from Canada or Europe, rather than routed from a counterfeit factory in China or elsewhere. “Canada doesn’t have enough drugs to sell them…for less money,” he said. (Armour and Burton, 5/14)

The Washington Post: Trump’s Big Campaign Promise On Drug Prices Wouldn’t Have Worked, Health And Human Services Secretary Says
[Azar] added that there are widespread misperceptions about the effects of direct government negotiation on drug prices, which, he said, would achieve minimal savings — unless the government were willing to deny access to certain medicines or set drug prices. “This is a topic the President and I have discussed at great length, and the idea of direct negotiation in Medicare has come up. He is tired of the government getting bad deals on the drugs seniors need, and I couldn’t agree more,” Azar said, in a speech before the briefing at Health and Human Services headquarters. “We formulated this plan with fixing that problem as the number one priority, and the President is following through on his promise.” (Johnson, 5/14)

NPR: HHS Secretary Azar Wields Pen Against Drug Prices
Here are three of the big ideas Azar laid out Monday, three days after President Trump unveiled a blueprint to lower the cost of prescription drugs that was criticized for being light on substance. (Kodjak, 5/14)

Stat: Trump Attacked ‘Drug Lobby' Before Lawmakers Well Funded By Pharma
There were moments during President Trump’s address on prescription drug prices on Friday that had Republican lawmakers in attendance bursting into applause and even rising from their seats. The president’s jab at the pharmaceutical lobby, however, was not one of them. Many of the lawmakers who were present are in fact at the center of the pharmaceutical industry’s efforts to lobby Congress. Those invited by the White House included Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a longtime industry ally who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees Medicare. (Facher, 5/15)

Stat: Biotech Stocks Open Higher Monday On 'Trump Bump' 
Health care stocks are trading higher Monday following President Trump’s drug pricing speech on Friday afternoon. Call it a relief rally. Or, the Trump bump. The snap judgment from Wall Street is that Trump’s proposals to rein in drug prices will have a limited impact on biotech and pharmaceuticals companies. But will this be the D.C. “clearing event” that sparks a deeper and sustainable rally in biotech and drug stocks? (Feuerstein, 5/14)