Price Says HHS, Trump Developing Plan to Lower Drug Prices

HHS Secretary Tom Price told a congressional subcommittee that he and President Trump are developing a plan to reduce drug prices.

Price told a House Appropriations subcommittee that HHS and the White House are “in the process of formulating strategy to bring down drug prices.” He did not discuss any more details, nor did he clarify the administration’s requests to offset FDA budget cuts by doubling user fees to over $2 billion for fiscal 2018.

Earlier this month, Price and Trump met with two Democratic congressmen in a White House meeting on a bill granting Medicare the ability to negotiate down drug prices. Reps. Elijah Cummings (Md.) and Peter Welch (Vt.) discussed a draft bill that would create a Medicare formulary and include drug rebates for low-income beneficiaries.

Cummings said Trump instructed Price to review the bill, despite the chilly reception it might get from Republicans on Capitol Hill.