Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
In Face Of Skepticism, HHS Secretary Vows Trump's Proposed Budget Really Would Lower Drug Prices
Stat: Azar Defends Trump Drug Pricing Proposals, Pushing Back Against Criticism
Alex Azar defended the drug pricing proposals in the Trump administration’s latest budget request Thursday, pushing back on criticism that none of the ideas would lower the list prices for prescription drugs. The new health and human services secretary, when pressed on the matter by both a Democratic and a Republican senator at a budget hearing, pointed to two concrete proposals by the administration. Both take aim at Medicare’s prescription drug benefit. One would put insurers, rather than the federal government, on the hook for more of the cost; another aims to encourage insurance companies to push cheaper generic drugs instead of costly brand drugs to their patients. (Swetlitz, 2/15)
In other news on drug prices —
Kaiser Health News: FDA Head Vows To Tackle High Drug Prices And Drugmakers ‘Gaming The System’
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said he will do everything “within my lane” to combat high drug prices and that he sees drug companies “gaming the system to try to block competition” in a multitude of ways in the marketplace. In a wide-ranging interview with Kaiser Health News on Thursday, Gottlieb also said that he wants to speed up the U.S. approval process for generic and “biosimilar” versions of biologic drugs, which are drugs comprised of living organisms, such as plant or animal cells. (Tribble and Szabo, 2/15)
Kaiser Health News: In An Effort To Curb Drug Costs, States Advance Bills To Prod Feds On Importation
Norm Thurston is a “free-market guy” — a conservative health economist in Republican-run Utah who rarely sees the government’s involvement in anything as beneficial. But in a twist, the state lawmaker is now pushing for Utah to flex its muscle to spur federal action on ever-climbing prescription drug prices. (Luthra, 2/16)
