06/12/2018
04:00 PM EDT
President
Donald Trump’s top health care official is lowering expectations that drug
companies will soon announce huge price cuts, undercutting Trump’s recent
claims that his drug pricing plan would produce immediate results.
Trump on
May 30 said some of the largest pharmaceutical companies would announce
“voluntary massive drops in prices” within two weeks in response to his drug
pricing plan released in mid-May. Wednesday will mark two weeks since Trump’s
remarks, which drugmakers at the time said caught them by surprise.
HHS
Secretary Alex Azar told the Senate HELP Committee Tuesday morning that there
are “several drug companies that are looking at substantial, material decreases
in drug prices,” but he indicated it could take time for the cuts to happen.
Azar did not say which companies were considering cuts or how deeply they would
slash prices.
The White
House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon. A
spokesperson at HHS declined to name which companies the department had spoken
with, saying that HHS is working with various health care groups.
Azar
claimed pharmacy benefits managers and drug distributors have held up efforts
to reduce prices, and he blamed the drug pricing system for incentivizing high
list prices. Drug companies are worried that if they cut list
prices, these drug supply chain middlemen will no longer prioritize their
products, Azar said. That’s because these companies sometimes make more money
when a drug’s list price is higher.
Sen.
Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said during the hearing that she and Sen. Tina Smith
(D-Wis.) sent letters surveying the top 10 drug manufacturers on the day Trump
made his remarks. No company said they had lowered prices, and no company indicated
that they plan to do so, Warren said. One of the companies said that its prices
will go up later this year, she said.
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