GMVozd/Getty
If you’ve been waiting on the edge of your seat for Donald Trump’s thoughts on how to reduce prescription drug prices, your wait is finally over:
President Trump will deliver Friday afternoon a twice-delayed, much-anticipated speech about his plan to lower drug prices — after a year when harsh rhetoric against drugmakers was accompanied by little action….“What I’m hearing is that they’re looking at a clean slate and going after everybody: the drug companies, the pharmacy benefit managers, everyone,” said one health care lobbyist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly.
Hahaha. Of course he’s going after everybody. Trump is a man of the people, after all. And of course your source needs anonymity to offer up a pearl of praise like this to the great man.
So in reality, what can we expect? I quail to even think about it. And more to the point, how likely is it that his strategy to get it through Congress will consist of more than a few tweets? Zero?
If I had to guess, I’d say that Trump might propose some modest reforms aimed at reining in massive price increases for orphan drugs. It would be popular, and his FDA chief supports it. He might also propose some new rules prohibiting drug companies from trying to keep generic competitors off the market. This is about the most I’d expect. Beyond that, I imagine it will be predominantly corporate-friendly stuff—and if congressional Republicans even bother spending any time on this, that’s probably all that will remain by the time they’re finished with it.
