President’s HHS Budget Includes Cluster of Drug Pricing Measures

Buried deep in the administration’s budget proposal are a series of drug price control measures that could rattle the pharmaceutical industry.

President Barack Obama’s proposed $1.1 trillion fiscal 2017 budget for the Department of Health and Human Services includes nine elements intended to address the recent spike in prescription drug prices. These include prohibiting pay-for-delay patent settlements, partnering with state Medicaid programs to negotiate lower drug prices and setting higher manufacturer rebate amounts.

The administration is deeply concerned about rapidly growing prescription drug prices, driven in part by the shift to specialty therapeutics, the slowdown in patent expirations and challenges in measuring drug value,” a budget overview document states. “To address this issue, the budget includes a package of proposals focused on Medicare, Medicaid, and drug price transparency.”