Trump picks former pharmaceutical exec Alex Azar as his next Health secretary

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump picks Alex Azar to lead Department of Health and Human Services Alex Azar previously worked in the Department of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush. Video provided by Newsy

WASHINGTON — President Trump's plan to nominate a former pharmaceutical company executive to be his top health official got an often-wary reaction Monday by those focused on drug pricing and safety.

If confirmed by the Senate, Alex Azar would replace Tom Price, who resigned in September amid a scandal over his use of charter aircraft for personal and official travel.

Until January, Azar was the president of Lilly USA, the Indianapolis-based maker of household-name prescription drugs like Prozac, Cialis and Methadone. He now serves on the board of HMS Holdings, a Texas company that helps health insurance companies cut costs, and runs his own biotech and health insurance consulting company, Seraphim Strategies.

"A former executive with Lilly who does not like Obamacare: How can this be good for drug prices, plan sponsors and patients?" asked Susan Hayes, whose company analyzes drug benefits for companies and unions.

Azar previously served in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the George W. Bush administration, when he was general counsel and deputy secretary. He was confirmed for both positions by a unanimous voice vote.

Former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson says Azar will not be influenced by his former employer and is well positioned to deal with the challenges ahead.

Azar's tenure as general counsel at HHS was marked by two major firsts, says Thompson. The morning of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Azar drafted the paperwork "within the hour" to declare the first health emergency, says Thompson. That allowed a plane to fly to New York with medical supplies for the victims from the World Trade Center.

Soon after when letters that included the white powder form of the disease anthrax were mailed anonymous around the country, Azar joined Thompson when the secretary — for the first time ever — negotiated with a drug maker to get a lower price. In this case, it was for the antibiotic Cipro.

Azar brings with him solid conservative credentials: After graduating from Yale Law School, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. He also worked under special prosecutor Kenneth Starr in the early years of the Whitewater investigation into President Bill Clinton.

As Trump's health secretary, Azar would manage Trump's reluctant enforcement of the Affordable Care Act, the Obama-era health insurance law that requires Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a tax. Trump has also accused pharmaceutical companies of "getting away with murder" in setting drug prices.

His nomination goes to the Senate Finance Committee, where Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Azar would be "at the "tip of the spear" to right the wrongs of Obamacare.

But Democrats immediately expressed skepticism that Trump's nominee could lower health care costs — including the price of prescription drugs.

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“I will closely scrutinize Mr. Azar’s record and ask for his commitment to faithfully implement the Affordable Care Act and take decisive, meaningful action to curtail the runaway train of prescription drug costs," said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. "Health care is too personal to be driven by politics, but that is what the leadership of HHS has offered so far."

David Mitchell, founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs, vowed to work with Azar on lowering drug prices if he commits to the task, but "we're not holding our breath based on what the administration has done so far." Mitchell, who has the incurable and costly blood cancer multiple myeloma, says the fact Azar spent 10 years at Lilly is particularly troubling.

"After all, Lilly is one-third of the powerful insulin cartel that has driven up insulin prices 300% in the last decade," said Mitchell. "On the other hand, what people do before they enter government is not necessarily determinative of what they will do. Maybe he will use his position to help to help patients and consumers by lowering drug prices."

Other consumer advocates were more pessimistic. Kim Witczak, who is a consumer representative on some Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panels, called the nomination another example of the "fox guarding the henhouse."

Trump announced the pick via Twitter from Manila, where he's attending a series of Asian summits on a five-nation trip.

"Happy to announce, I am nominating Alex Azar to be the next HHS Secretary. He will be a star for better healthcare and lower drug prices!" he wrote.

Thompson says Azar will be doing what Trump and the American public — not his former employer — want.

"Once Alex Azar puts on the hat and the mantle of being HHS secretary, he'll be doing what is the necessary objective of the department and of all citizens and that includes the president of the United States," Thompson says.