Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
NIH Director Taking Slow Approach To Invoking March-In Drug Patent Rights
Stat: The New NIH Director Is Walking A Tightrope On Biden’s Drug Pricing Vision
President Biden has promised to require fair prices from drugmakers that use federally funded research — and now, in a major recent move, said he’ll trigger government march-in on patents for drugs that run afoul of that goal. “It’s a simple principle. You shouldn’t pay the highest price in the world for drugs that your tax dollars have already helped create,” Biden said last month as he touted the move at the National Institutes of Health. But the new NIH director, locked in the center of this debate, isn’t taking any big steps yet. (Owermohle, 1/16)
NBC News: Florida Plan To Import Cheaper Drugs Faces Outrage In Canada
The plan to allow Florida to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada is already facing outrage from Canadians who claim it could make their own drug supply shortages worse. And experts in the U.S. have doubts the program will ever help people in Florida get a cost break on medications for conditions like heart disease and diabetes. ... “The U.S. needs to solve its own drug pricing problem, and not rely on other countries to do it for them,” said Dr. Joel Lexchin, a professor emeritus at the School of Health Policy and Management at York University in Toronto. (Lovelace Jr., 1/12)
KFF Health News: Trump Official Who OK’d Drugs From Canada Chairs Company Behind Florida’s Import Plan
Alex Azar advanced Canadian drug importation as Donald Trump’s secretary of Health and Human Services. Now he chairs the board of a company managing Florida’s importation program. (Galewitz, 1/12)
In other health news from Washington —
The Wall Street Journal: Lloyd Austin Released From Hospital After Surgery Complications
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was released from the hospital Monday, Pentagon officials said, after a two-week stay due to complications from prostate surgery last month. Austin is now recuperating at home, according to a Pentagon statement. “The Secretary continues to recover well and, on the advice of doctors, will recuperate and perform his duties remotely for a period of time before returning full-time to the Pentagon,” according to the statement. “He has full access to required secure communications capabilities.” (Lubold, 1/15)
KFF Health News: What Would A Second Trump Presidency Look Like For Health Care?
On the presidential campaign trail, former President Donald Trump is, once again, promising to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act — a nebulous goal that became one of his administration’s splashiest policy failures. “We’re going to fight for much better health care than Obamacare. Obamacare is a catastrophe,” Trump said at a campaign stop in Iowa on Jan. 6. (Rovner, 1/16)
