Media quiet about Trump successes at lowering drug prices

by WorldTribune Staff, May 8, 2018

U.S. President Donald Trump has been successful in his efforts to lower drug prices and out-of-pocket costs for seniors, healthcare officials say.

President Donald Trump is expected to make a major speech on drug prices on May 11. / Getty Images

Yet, the fact that the keywords “Russia”, “collusion” and “Stormy” cannot be included with the story may explain why the administration’s work to reduce prescription drug prices has not been a trending topic on the major media.

Trump is scheduled to deliver a major speech on tackling high drug prices on May 11, sources say.

Drug maker Merck reported prices dropped 1.9 percent last year.

Adam Schechter, Merck’s president of Global Human Health, said the report proves that “the competitive marketplace for pharmaceuticals is working.”

In 2017, the Food and Drug Administration approved more generics, 1,027, than in any year ever.

“The mainstream media hasn’t given Trump any credit,” one Trump ally told Washington Examiner columnist Paul Bedard.

Bedard noted that “One of the stars of the change” in drug prices is FDA chief Scott Gottlieb. A senior White House official said, “Gottlieb has been on a tear. He’s solid. He’s also his own machine.”

“Key to changing the FDA’s culture has been Gottlieb’s embrace of Trump’s push to cut regulations and slow the development of new ones,” Bedard wrote, adding that Gottlieb has “issued the fewest new rules in 20 years.”

“And over at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, drug company price gouging has been under attack,” Bedard wrote. “In a celebrated case, CMS Administrator Seema Verma required Mylan to give bigger price discounts on the EpiPen, the poster child for egregious pricing behavior, resulting in savings for the federal government and states.”


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