Trump Team Pressures Pharma Companies To Voluntarily Lower Prices
The administration issued an order in May directing companies to begin negotiating drug pricing to bring them in line with other economically comparable nations, but pharmaceutical executives note that the order was light on details. Plus: RFK Jr.'s threat to yank medical school funding.
Stat:
Trump Administration Demands Pharma Companies Begin Drug Price Negotiations, A Day After Key Deadline
Under President Donald Trump’s order, signed in May, Wednesday marked the 30-day deadline for the administration to release its price targets. Executives and lobbyists for the industry were waiting for more details on the proposal and gaming out a wide variety of scenarios. But a White House spokesperson told STAT on Wednesday the companies already had the price targets, pointing to a May 20 announcement from the administration that laid out a broad target for the negotiations: that drugs should be the lowest price offered in peer nations. (Payne, 6/12)
MedPage Today:
RFK Jr. Plans To Pull Medical Schools' Funding If They Don't Teach Nutrition
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in April that he plans to tell medical schools to teach nutrition or risk losing federal funding, ABC News reported last week. "Under Secretary Kennedy's leadership, HHS is committed to ensuring that nutrition is treated as core clinical knowledge -- not a wellness extra -- in building a healthcare system equipped to prevent and manage chronic disease," an HHS spokesperson told MedPage Today in an email. (Nielsen, 6/12)
Bloomberg:
Cannabis Rescheduling To Ease Rules Faces Opposition From Experts
A Harvard addiction scientist and a former government lawyer are urging the US Department of Justice to reject a plan that would ease federal restrictions on cannabis, which the industry has been counting on to grow their businesses. In a new paper published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, the authors argue that the Biden administration’s push to reclassify cannabis relied on flawed reasoning and downplayed health risks, including cannabis-use disorder and links to psychosis. (Rutherford, 6/11)
The Guardian:
Harvard Researcher Released From US Custody After Arrest For Smuggling Frog Embryos
A judge released a Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher charged with smuggling frog embryos into the US on Thursday, freeing her on bail after a brief hearing. Kseniia Petrova, 30, who was brought into court wearing an orange jumpsuit, had been in federal custody since February. She was seen walking out of the courthouse laughing and hugging supporters. (Guardian staff and agency, 6/12)
