Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Lashes Out At Pfizer Over Its Price Hikes, But Latest Round Of Posturing Earns Mostly A Shrug
Reuters: Trump Slams Pfizer After July 1 Drug Price Hikes
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday took aim at Pfizer Inc and other U.S. drugmakers after they raised prices on some of their medicines on July 1, saying his administration would act in response. "Pfizer & others should be ashamed that they have raised drug prices for no reason." Trump wrote in a post on Twitter on Monday. "We will respond!" (Erman and Heavey, 7/9)
Politico: Trump Criticizes Pfizer Following Price Increase
Trump’s tweet comes six weeks after he announced that drugmakers would voluntarily offer “massive” price cuts, a pronouncement that took the industry by surprise. Pfizer, one of the nation’s largest drugmakers, increased prices last week on 41 products, including Viagra. Several other manufacturers have increased prices as well, despite pressure from the White House. (Goldberg, 7/9)
The Hill: Trump Calls Out Pfizer For Raising Drug Prices
The average wholesale cost of a 100 mg Viagra pill is now $88.45, an almost 20 percent increase from $73.85 at the beginning of 2018, according to the FT. Mid-year drug price increases are a common industry practice that has not abated, despite the Trump administration’s efforts. (Weixel, 7/9)
Stat: Trump Lashes Out Against Pfizer Over Hiking Of Drug Prices
The Trump administration has made high prescription drug costs a policy focus in 2018, but has little to show for its efforts so far. The White House’s drug pricing blueprint, unveiled in May, was notably light on policy specifics, and the current Congress has not passed legislation aimed at reducing drug costs. (Facher, 7/9)
Stat: He Can Shame Pfizer, But Trump Has No Practical To Lower Drug Prices
Even in the boardrooms of Pfizer, they had to have expected President Trump’s Twitter outburst on Monday. If anything, the Pfizer executives set themselves up to be a target. Let’s look back to the end of May, when Trump promised that some big drug makers would take “voluntary, massive” price cuts in two weeks. (Silverman, 7/9)
Bloomberg: Trump Tweets Again On Drug Prices, Investors Mostly Shrug
New York-based Pfizer, which was up 1 percent before the tweet, initially dropped but rebounded to a gain of about 0.3 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Health-Care Index quickly recovered most of an initial dip, and so did the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index. That’s a big contrast with January 2017, when Trump, then president-elect, sank pharmaceutical and biotechnology stocks when he said companies are “getting away with murder” with high drug prices. More than 18 months and several threats to drive drug prices down later -- mostly via tweets -- Trump has yet to announce any major policy from his administration. (Durat, 7/9)
The Hill: HHS Secretary: Recent Drug Price Increases 'Creating A Tipping Point'
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar on Monday rebuked drug companies for recent price increases. "Change is coming to prescription drug pricing, whether it’s painful or not for pharmaceutical companies," Azar said in a speech Monday at a health policy conference. Azar's comments follow Pfizer's decision to raise the list prices of more than 100 prescription drugs. (Hellmann, 7/9)
Stat: Azar Makes Case For Revamping Hospital Drug Discounts — To Hospitals Defending Them
The Trump administration is looking at “comprehensive” changes to the so-called 340B program as part of its work to lower prescription drug prices, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Monday, in a surprisingly direct speech before a ballroom full of representatives for the hospitals and clinics that have called for stronger protections for the program. The federal drug discount program known as 340B has been the subject of an increasingly contentious debate that pits pharmaceutical companies, which want to rein in the federal drug discount program, against the participating hospitals that receive the discounts. (Mershon, 7/9)
And in other pharmaceutical news —
NPR: Drugs For Cholesterol And Blood Pressure Now Being Tested As Flu Remedies
Most drugs have side effects, but sometimes they're actually good news. Researchers are now exploring whether some cheap and common drugs have side effects that could help people fight off the flu and other lung infections.This idea has a passionate advocate: Dr. David Fedson. About 10 years ago, this infectious disease specialist had a disturbing thought. He was working in the vaccine industry in France, and he started to wonder what would happen if, all of a sudden, the world was gripped with a flu pandemic. (Harris, 7/9)
