A White House meeting with pharmaceutical executives who President Trump
Donald John Trump Biden to pay tribute to Lewis on Capitol Hill Monday. Cotton asked for comments on slavery in criticism of the 1619 Draft Congress slated for disorderly COVID-19 talks on a tight deadline. He said it would happen Tuesday is now off, said people familiar with the matter.
A pharmaceutical industry source said “there was concern that this had not been a productive meeting” and that companies are still discussing how to move forward after Trump signed a series of executive orders on Friday to target drug prices. .
Trump had announced during Friday’s signing ceremony that there would be a White House meeting with industry executives on Tuesday, which he said would give drug companies an opportunity to propose an alternative to one of his executive orders. However, the pharmaceutical companies never publicly confirmed that they would attend the meeting.
The White House said Monday that it was still interested in having the meeting, but it seems that the executives of the pharmaceutical companies do not want to advance, at least not yet.
“The White House has been more than accommodating in attempts to schedule this meeting,” said a White House official.
The executive order in question would reduce the prices Medicare pays for certain drugs by linking them to lower prices in other countries. Trump said Friday that he would delay the order’s entry into force until August 25, to give companies time to propose an alternative.
“We will see them on Tuesday,” Trump said last week. “We will see if we can do something here.”
Another issue cited by the pharmaceutical industry source was the fact that the White House has not released the text of the executive order in question.
“We don’t even know what we are negotiating against,” the source said.
The White House declined to say when it will publish the text.
More generally, there is a question about when an executive order on drug prices would go into effect. Other steps in the regulatory process are likely to need to be followed, making it clear when or even if any changes will take effect and reduce drug costs for consumers.
Democrats have dismissed the executive orders as election-year tricks that have no real teeth.
Inside Health Policy first reported that Tuesday’s meeting was over.
A spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America did not speak directly Monday if industry executives are willing to meet with the White House on the executive order.
“Right now, the only focus of our industry is to find a way to beat COVID-19,” said the spokesman. “The President’s plan to import policies from overseas socialized health systems is disrupting our work and diverting our focus from those life-saving efforts. We remain willing to discuss ways to reduce costs for patients at the pharmacy counter. However, we remain firm in opposition to policies that would allow foreign governments to set prices for drugs in the United States. “
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