The Trump administration claims the president’s blueprint to tackle high drug prices is already sparking a “sea change” that’s prompting pharmaceutical companies to lower prices.
Since Trump outlined the blueprint in May, there have been 60 percent fewer price hikes for brand name drugs compared to the same period in 2017, the administration said in a report released Monday 100 days after it was released. There have also been 54 percent more generic and brand drug price decreases compared to the same period in 2017.
Administration officials declined to say that the price changes were solely due to the blueprint, but hinted the changes are the beginning of a greater shift among pharma companies on prices.
“I don’t want to speak specifically for the manufacturers, but it is unprecedented to see action like that,” said Dan Best, special adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on drug pricing reform.
“These shifts in pricing are just the beginning of a sea change in drug markets, as manufacturers respond to new incentives and comprehend the more dramatic changes to come,” the report added.
The report did not say how many total brand name drug price increases occurred from May 11 to Aug. 15, 2018, compared to the same time period in 2017. It also did not list the exact number of price decreases for brand and generic products over that same timeframe, or the products.
The report said there were two companies that lowered prices or rolled back increases, 13 companies that committed to freeze prices and four that canceled planned price hikes.
But some of these companies could still install price hikes. Pfizer most notably decided to raise prices for nearly 40 of its products earlier this year. However, after a discussion with Trump, the company decided to halt the increases until the administration’s blueprint was fully implemented.
The drug company said the freeze on price hikes will continue until the president’s blueprint goes into effect or the end of the year, “whichever is sooner.”
Patient advocates have blasted other price decreases as toothless.
For instance, the pharma giant Merck made waves when it agreed to slash the cost of its hepatitis C drug Zepatier by 60 percent as it reduced prices for six other drugs.
However, Zepatier recorded zero sales for Merck in the first quarter of the year, and the other drugs only add up to less than 0.1 percent of the company’s total sales, according to the group Patients for Affordable Drugs.
“Nothing announced by Merck amounts to restraint,” said executive director David Mitchell. “Merck is trying to get credit for doing nothing.”
Trump’s blueprint included several reforms aimed at targeting high drug pricing, including expanding negotiation tools for Medicare and boosting generic drug approvals at the Food and Drug Administration to increase competition.
Some of the proposals have already gone into effect.
The administration gave private plans power to negotiate for lower prices for Medicare drugs administered at a doctor’s office like a vaccine or chemotherapy. Currently private plans are not allowed to negotiate for lower prices for those drugs.
