#drug-pricing

#drug-pricing

Live TV coverage of the event shows Novo Nordisk executive Gordon Findlay slumping to the floor inside the Oval Office, with several men nearby helping to guide his body safely to the ground. Medicare and Medicaid administrator Mehmet Oz grabbed Findlay under the shoulders to help him to the ground. Trump stands up from behind his desk in the Oval Office, but doesn't intervene. Health secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. can be seen walking briskly away from Findlay.

During a press conference in the Oval Office and surrounded by many of his most senior aides, including HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, Trump revealed that two of the world's largest pharmaceutical manufacturers, Eli Lilly and Novartis, will offer weight loss drugs at drastic discounts. So far, never heard anything bad about them, only good about them, Trump ad libbed from his prepared remarks before asking his Kennedy, Is there anything bad about them, Bobby?

Something just wasn't adding up when Dr. Mehmet Oz - the current administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid service - tried to explain president Trump's new drug pricing scheme. That something was his brain trying to make sense of pretty simple math. During an interview on the NBC News "Meet the Press" segment on Wednesday, Oz was asked about Trump's absurd claim that he slashed prescription drug prices by up to "1,500 percent" - and completely lost it.

"We believe that easy access to PrEP medications is critical for Americans who may be exposed to HIV," Gourdine wrote. "Our formularies cover several PrEP options, both injectable and oral. For drugs excluded from our standard formularies, exceptions are available when medically justified."

"FDA policymakers have tried to come up with ideas to speed important products to market. ... It is in part directed to achieving some of the (Trump) Administration's goals," said Chad Landmon, chair of Polsenelli's patent and FDA practice.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I will tell you that we are going to be doing numbers on the cost of drugs in this country, that it's I'm not talking about a 20 percent decrease, which would be good. I'm talking about 1,000 percent decrease. We're talking about where a product would sell for $80 in Germany, and $1,300 here, and we're not going to do that.

CVS Health's decision is a clear violation of the ACA's requirement to cover USPSTF-recommended preventive services, including PrEP. The entire world is excited by this drug and its potential contribution to preventing and eventually ending HIV. However, a drug will only work if people can access it and right now CVS Health, which owns the largest pharmacy benefit manager in the country, is shamefully blocking people from taking it, unlike other payers.

Hikma's generic Vascepa, with its "skinny label," poses a challenge for patent protection, potentially undermining the incentives for innovation in the pharmaceutical industry.

Senate Democrats and the Biden administration abandoned plans to cap drug prices based on payments in other wealthy nations during negotiations to empower Medicare's negotiation capabilities.