Inside STAT: The drug industry’s new tactic in Washington: calling Trump’s bluff

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After four years of public sparring between the pharmaceutical industry and President Trump over drug pricing, industry executives took a bold step this week by defiantly skipping a meeting with Trump. The president had insisted last week that drug makers were eager to strike a deal with the administration in light of its tough talk on drug pricing. Experts say the move reflects how the industry has little to gain and much more to lose in negotiating with the White House. “Pharmaceutical executives have realized that giving the president any type of photo opportunity does not preclude him turning around and stabbing them in the back,” Peter Pitts, president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, tells STAT's Lev Facher and Nicholas Florko. STAT Plus subscribers can read more here.