President Trump’s top health official has appointed a new drug pricing chief after the prior official in that position died last month.
John O’Brien, a current official in the Department of Health and Human Services, will be senior adviser to the health secretary who is responsible for drug pricing reform. He replaces Dan Best, who died Nov. 1.
“John O’Brien has already been an integral leader in HHS’s efforts to bring down the high price of prescription drugs,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement alongside the announcement. “As a senior adviser, he will carry forward the legacy of our departed colleague Dan Best and build on the substantial progress that has already been made. John will continue to play an important role in our overall efforts to deliver Americans better, more affordable healthcare.”
O’Brien, who is also a pharmacist, was previously an adviser for health reform and drug pricing, and was deputy assistant secretary for health policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. He kicked off his tenure on Thursday with a blog post that pushed back against criticism that the Trump administration was going too far with its drug pricing proposals.
He focused on a provision that would lower Medicare drug prices to match those overseas. Under the plan, the part of Medicare that administers drugs in a doctor’s office, known as Medicare Part B, would determine the price it pays for certain drugs based on the cheapest price that another nation pays.
O’Brien said the current system does not encourage free-market competition, and that other countries benefit from the fact that the U.S. pays much more. He noted that other countries walk away when they determine the price for a drug is too high.
“Free market advocates and those who have philosophical concerns about government price fixing should be among the most vocal opponents of the status quo,” he wrote.
Before coming to HHS, O’Brien was vice president of public policy for CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. He has also worked at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Notre Dame of Maryland University College of Pharmacy, and various pharmacy and pharmaceutical organizations.
He received his master’s degree in public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a doctor of pharmacy degree from Nova Southeastern University, and studied pharmacy and public policy at the University of Florida.
