By Reuters Staff SEPTEMBER 13, 20202:18 PMUPDATED 15 HOURS AGO
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump
signed a new executive order on Sunday aimed at lowering drug prices in the
United States by linking them to those of other nations and expanding the scope
of a July action.
“My Most Favored Nation order will ensure that
our Country gets the same low price Big Pharma gives to other countries. The
days of global freeriding at America’s expense are over,” Trump said in a
Twitter post.
The latest step, coming less than two months
before the Nov. 3 presidential election, would replace a July 24 Trump
executive order.
It extends the mandate to prescription drugs
available at a pharmacy, which are covered under Medicare Part D. The July
version focused on drugs typically administered in doctors’ offices and health
clinics, covered by Medicare Part B.
Specifically, it would pay a price for a drug
that matches the lowest price paid among wealthy foreign governments. Medicare,
the government healthcare program for seniors, is currently prohibited from
negotiating prices it pays to drugmakers.
It also requires issuing new federal rules, a
complex process that might not be done by Election Day. Determining prices paid
by other countries could be challenging as negotiations between governments and
drugmakers often are kept confidential.
The industry’s largest trade group - the
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA - denounced
Trump’s move as “a reckless attack on the very companies working around the
clock to beat COVID-19.”
PhRMA President and Chief Executive Stephen
Ubl called the policy “unworkable” and an “overreach,” and said it would give
foreign governments a say in how the United States provides access to
treatments.
Larry Levitt, health economist at the Kaiser
Family Foundation research organization, wrote on Twitter that Trump’s
executive order “does not by itself do anything. It has to be followed up by
regulations, which will take time.”
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization said
the move would reduce industry investment. “We will use every tool available –
including legal action if necessary – to fight this risky foreign price control
scheme,” Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, president and CEO of the group, said in a
statement.
Dan Mendelson, founder of consultancy Avalere
Health, said Trump’s move would not affect drug prices for senior citizens
before the Nov. 3 election, adding that polling shows Americans are more
concerned with the coronavirus than drug prices.
He said Democratic presidential candidate Joe
Biden “has a 20 point advantage over the Trump on Covid19, so it’s not
surprising to see the administration try to change the subject.”
The Republican president signed an executive
order in July to require Medicare to tie the prices it pays for drugs to those
paid by other countries. Its implementation, however, was delayed as the
administration sought to work out a solution with the industry.
Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Susan Cornwell and
Richard Cowan in Washington; Michael Erman in Maplewood, New Jersey; Editing by
Nick Zieminski, Peter Cooney and Diane Craft
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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