House Democrats and Republicans are calling for more transparency on the details of the Trump administration’s deals with pharmaceutical companies, which President Donald Trump has touted as lowering prescription drug prices.
Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee questioned pharmaceutical supply chain experts on Wednesday about whether President Donald Trump’s “Most Favored Nation” deals would lower prices that patients pay at the pharmacy counter.
Last year, the Trump administration negotiated deals with at least 16 pharmaceutical manufacturers, including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and EMD Serono, to set U.S. list prices equal to or below those in other developed countries.
Trump and several administration officials announced last week the launch of the drug discount website TrumpRx, where patients can print out coupons for “Most Favored Nation” prices to take to the pharmacy if they are not using insurance to cover their medication costs.
But critics of the deals have noted that the White House has not released public details, leading many experts to question whether they will benefit patients by lowering prices.
Lori Reilly, CEO of the pharmaceutical manufacturer trade group PhRMA, told members of Congress that they would “have to take their word for it” that the deals would reduce prices for consumers.
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), the leading Democrat on the full energy and commerce committee, said the situation was “unacceptable.”
“The federal government can’t cut secret deals with these companies, and we don’t know anything about it,” he said.
Hearing witness Rachel Sachs, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, specializing in pharmaceutical pricing, told members of the committee that “almost nothing has been made public about these deals.”
“We don’t know basic things like which drugs are included, what the agreed-upon prices are, and to whom they will be available? And how does the government have any ability to detect and enforce violations of these agreements?” she said.
Pallone added, “It’s absurd for me to take the word for it. I mean, that’s not what we do. We don’t take the word for anybody. We question, we do oversight, we look into it.”
Republicans were less critical of the Trump administration than their Democratic colleagues, but they shared similar concerns.
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Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA), chairman of the health subcommittee, told Pallone that he would work across the aisle “to try to get as much information as we can without busting up the deals.”
“I think we do need to know more about what’s going on. I’m a big believer in transparency, and the more we know, the better job we can do as congressmen,” he said.
