No rest for congressional staff

While lawmakers bask in this week’s recess, congressional health care staffers will likely be hammering out key elements of various drug pricing packages this week. Senate Finance Committee staffers were briefed late last week about an agreement between Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), multiple lobbyist sources confirmed to STAT. Rumors are flying that the committee may be inching toward an agreement on capping drug price hikes — which essentially means drug makers would be penalized if they hiked drug prices above a certain threshold. (It’s still early days, though — Staff for both Grassley and Wyden declined to comment and text of a supposed agreement hasn’t hit K street just yet.)
 
And while the Senate HELP Committee passed it’s own package of drug pricing reforms last week, that work likely isn’t over, either. The committee’s chairman has raised concerns about an amendment, added to the bill last-minute by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), that would require drug makers to give HHS advance notice of any major price hikes. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) told my colleague Lev Facher last week he hopes to work with Baldwin on tweaks to the bill before it gets to the Senate floor. And while Baldwin seemed amenable during the hearing to small tweaks, her spokesperson told me Monday she has “no interest in working with drug companies to water down a reform that has strong bipartisan support.”