Trump's drug pricing bark worse than his bite for pharma industry

On Friday, US President Donald Trump announced his much trumpeted plans for lowering the prices of medicines, which require Medicare Part D plans to share a portion of discounts they receive from drug manufacturers with patients, as well as including ways to allow the government to better negotiate prices. However, the proposals turned out to be much less stringent than may have been expected, given the President’s previous rhetoric on the subject.

In his opening remarks on the American Patients First Blueprint the President stated: “Today, my administration is launching the most sweeping action in history to lower the price of prescription drugs for the American people. We’ve wanted to be doing this. We’ve been working on it right from day one. It’s been a complicated process, but not too complicated. And today it’s happening. We will have tougher negotiation, more competition, and much lower prices at the pharmacy counter. And it will start to take effect very soon.”

To view the American Patients First Blueprint visit: https://www.hhs.gov/drugpricing