Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump To Meet With Drugmakers This Week, Reuters Reports
Reuters: Trump Says He Will Meet With Drugmakers This Week Over Pricing
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he planned to meet with pharmaceutical companies this week regarding his so-called most-favored-nation executive order aimed at lowering drug prices paid by the U.S. federal government. The president signed the executive order this summer which, among other things, would require Medicare to tie the prices it pays for drugs to those paid by other countries. Its implementation, however, has been delayed as the administration seeks to work out a solution with the industry. (9/1)
Poynter: President Trump Claims He Signed An Executive Order On Drug Prices. But It Doesn’t Seem To Exist.
No doubt you have seen the advertisement that President Donald Trump is running claiming he has lowered drug prices. Back in 2016, he promised to lower drug prices and, in this reelection campaign, he is claiming success. On July 24, President Trump held a signing ceremony that was portrayed as imposing a “favored nations clause” on drugs sold in the United States. That means that the price of some drugs would be tied to the low prices that some foreign countries pay. (Tompkins, 8/26)
WBUR: What We'd Really Import From Canada Under Trump's Executive Order. It's Not Prescription Drugs
Politicians from President Donald Trump to Bernie Sanders have been calling for years to allow the importation of certain prescription drugs from Canada. In July, Trump signed an executive order intended to facilitate prescription drug importation. High and rising prescription drug costs are one of vanishingly few issues with bipartisan attention these days, and even bipartisan agreement on some specific policies, like this one. Trump, Sanders and Joe Biden all support prescription drug importation — but importing drugs from Canada won’t solve the U.S.’s prescription drug costs problem. (Sarah Ruth Bates, 9/2)
Also —
Stat: Congressional Committee To Subpoena AbbVie In Drug Pricing Investigation
A Congressional committee plans to subpoena AbbVie (ABBV) for documents about pricing practices for two of its best-selling medicines, after the drug maker failed to provide information lawmakers requested when an investigation was launched in January 2019. At the time, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform sought data from a dozen large pharmaceutical companies about their pricing tactics for some of the most expensive medicines in response to nationwide angst over the rising cost of prescription drugs. (Silverman, 9/1)
