Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pfizer To Temporarily Roll Back Drug Price Increases Following Talk With Trump
Reuters: Pfizer Delays Drug Price Hikes After Talking With Trump
Pfizer Inc said on Tuesday it was deferring drug price increases for no more than six months after the company's chief executive officer had an extensive conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump. The rollback came a day after Trump took aim at Pfizer and other U.S. drugmakers for raising prices on some of their medicines, saying in a tweet that they "should be ashamed" and that his administration would respond. (Abutaleb and Erman, 7/10)
The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer To Roll Back Price Increases After Trump Criticism
“The company will return these prices to their pre-July 1 levels as soon as technically possible,” Pfizer said in a statement. It said the restored levels will remain in effect until the president had a chance to put his plan to curb high drug prices or the end of the year, whichever is earlier. The statement quoted Mr. Read offering support for Mr. Trump. “Pfizer shares the President’s concern for patients and commitment to providing affordable access to the medicines they need,” he said. (Rockoff, 7/10)
Politico: Pfizer Will Roll Back Drug Prices After Discussion With Trump
HHS Secretary Alex Azar said on CNN that Pfizer's move shows "a constructive, professional [and] appropriate approach by Pfizer in interacting with the government and the president to be part of the solution here and not part of the problem." The HHS secretary later issued a statement that he looks forward to working with companies that "want to work with us to lower list prices and reduce out-of-pocket costs." (Diamond, 7/10)
Bloomberg: Trump Says Pfizer Is Rolling Back Drug ‘Price Hikes’
On Monday, Trump had taken aim at Pfizer over its reported plans for take a series of price increases, blasting the move on Twitter and briefly rattling shares of the U.S. drug giant. Shares of Pfizer were down about 1.4 percent at $36.91 in late trading in New York. (Hopkins and Olorunnipa, 7/10)
Stat: Under Pressure From Trump, Pfizer Agrees To Roll Back Price Hikes
The agreement is a bit of egg-on-the-face for Read, but he may accomplish one thing for the moment: remove some of the pressure on the pharmaceutical industry as a whole to cut prices, since Trump appeared to be ratcheting up the pressure on companies. (Silverman, 7/10)
The Wall Street Journal: Drug Supply Chain Feels The Trump Effect
Pfizer’s move is likely to have a modest direct impact on its profits. Middlemen like drug wholesalers and pharmacy-benefit managers will feel a bigger effect. The medicines in question comprise only a small fraction of Pfizer’s total revenue, which reached nearly $13 billion in the first quarter. And any impact is likely to be temporary. Pfizer said the deferred price increases will still take effect by Jan. 1 or earlier if Mr. Trump implements his plan to reform prescription drug prices. (Grant, 7/11)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Stat: Could FDA Use Off-Label Data For Drug Approvals? It’s Possible, Official Says
The Food and Drug Administration might one day use data gathered from off-label uses of drugs to determine whether or not to approve the drugs for those uses, an agency division director said Tuesday. The FDA approves drugs for specific conditions in certain groups of people and then spells out those prescribed uses on a drug’s label. But physicians can prescribe the drugs to anyone for anything, so-called off label. (Swetlitz, 7/10)
