Expect talk of drug prices in the State of the Union

Most of President Trump’s State of the Union address this evening won’t exactly delight Democratic lawmakers — but the portion on drug pricing actually might. As Democrats argued to STAT’s Lev Facher and Nick Florko, Trump’s widely expected mention of high pharmaceutical costs will highlight how unsuccessful the White House has been to rein them in.

That's not a view shared by the White House, of course. But Democrats have publicly — and repeatedly — proclaimed their commitment to taking more steps to lower prices and asserted that the steps the administration has taken simply haven't gotten the job done.

“The president hasn’t done a damn thing on drug prices,” one congresswoman told STAT. “Maybe I should fall on my knees and offer a novena.”