Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Drugmakers, Facing 'Stiffest Political Headwinds,' Mount Strong Lobbying Effort In Congress
The Wall Street Journal: Drugmakers, Worried About Losing Pricing Power, Are Lobbying Hard
Worried drugmakers are stepping up efforts to blunt proposals in Washington that they view as some of the most serious threats to their pricing power in recent years. Pharmaceutical industry trade organizations and outside groups are spending millions of dollars on advertisements attacking the proposals, which would peg drug prices in the U.S. to prices paid overseas and force companies to pay rebates if a drug’s price increases by more than the rate of inflation. For instance, one trade group’s radio ad decries “foreign price controls” imposed by European bureaucrats. (Loftus, 9/23)
Stat: The Democrats Shepherding Pelosi’s Drug Pricing Bill Have Taken Plenty Of Campaign Cash From Pharma
The fate of Nancy Pelosi’s sweeping drug pricing bill rests in the hands of lawmakers who received more campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry than almost all other Democrats, according to a STAT review of campaign finance records. Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), who chairs the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, received $111,500 in contributions from pharmaceutical industry political action committees in the 2018 election cycle — fifth-most of any lawmaker, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Rep. Frank Pallone, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, received $98,500, good for ninth-most. (Facher, 9/24)
PoliticoPro: Trump Whipsaws GOP On Drug Pricing
President Donald Trump is turning up the heat on his own party over drug pricing, pressing Republicans for an ambitious solution aimed at slashing costs and taking control of a health care issue key to his 2020 reelection. But the effort is already running into a familiar problem: Republicans on Capitol Hill have little idea what exactly the president wants, and where to start. (Cancryn and Karlin-Smith, 9/23)
