Trump tells drugmakers he'll tackle prices

President Donald Trump vowed today to speed up drug approvals while reiterating his pledge to bring down drug costs.

"For Medicare, for Medicaid, we have to get the prices way down," Trump said during a White House meeting with pharmaceutical executives and the industry's top lobbyist.


During the campaign and since his election, Trump has often talked of pharma in tough terms. Just earlier this month, he accused the industry of "getting away with murder" and said he wanted to competitively bid drug purchases. But in public remarks on Tuesday, he took a conciliatory tone, pledging to reduce regulations and lower the bar for drug approvals.

"We're also gonna be streamlining the process so that from your standpoint, when you have a drug, you can actually get it approved if it works instead of waiting for many, many years," Trump said. "The U.S. drug companies have produced extraordinary results for our country, but the pricing has been astronomical for our country."

Trump, who's pledged to unwind the nation's regulatory regime, signaled a potentially radical approach to overhauling the Food and Drug Administration. He expressed a willingness to approve some drugs before they have been proven safe, which would be a big departure from the FDA's current practices. And he said he would soon name an FDA commissioner who will be "streamlining" the agency.

One of Trump's lead candidates for FDA commissioner, Jim O'Neill, has favored approving drugs once they have been proven safe, but before they've been determined effective. His position, which is less radical than Trump's statement, is not supported by most large drug companies, who fear such rapid approvals could ultimately undermine industry's credibility and hurt their pricing power.

"We're gonna be getting rid of regulations that are unnecessary, big league," Trump said. "Somebody said the other day, what's the percentage of regulation? I said maybe 75 percent. It could even be up to 80 percent, which is what you need because you can't even function."

Trump also appeared to reiterate his support for drug negotiations. He contended that drugmakers need to face increased competition and bidding. Yet he appeared to suggest that Medicare, which is banned from negotiating with drugmakers, is hurting competition.

"I'll oppose anything that makes it harder for smaller, younger companies to take the risk of bringing a product to a vibrantly competitive market," he said. "That includes price-fixing by the biggest dog in the market, Medicare, which is what's happening. But we can increase competition and bidding wars big time — we have to — into that program."

Trump also said he plans to work on global trade and tax policy that could benefit U.S. drugmakers.

“We’re gonna be changing a lot of the rules. We’re going to be ending global freeloading,” Trump said. “Foreign price controls reduce the resources of American drug companies to finance drug and R&D innovation," he said, also encouraging drugmakers to bring more of their manufacturing back to the United States.

Executives from Merck, Amgen, Johnson & Johnson, Celgene, Novartis and Eli Lilly attended the White House meeting, along with PhRMA CEO Stephen Ubl. House Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) , whose panel would oversee potential drug-pricing reforms, also was there.

Ubl, whose industry is facing heightened pressure to keep prices in check, said he's concerned about affordability and would work with the Trump administration to advance "market-based reforms."

"We discussed many areas of common ground including: advancing stronger trade agreements to level the playing field with countries around the world; reforming our tax code to spur investment and job creation here in the United States; and removing outdated regulations that drive up costs and slow innovation," Ubl said in a statement.