PhRMA’s dodging a bullet, no matter who wins in November
The New York Times came out with a bombshell over the weekend: The drug lobbying group PhRMA and the White House almost reached an elusive drug pricing deal last month, but Trump’s desire for a one-time, $100 “coupon” to seniors killed the agreement. Drug CEOs, they reported, didn’t want to be seen as aiding Trump’s nakedly political move just weeks before Election Day.
With 42 days to go, PhRMA’s willingness to walk away from the table makes sense. The vaunted drug lobby is weeks away from running out the clock on Trump’s first term almost entirely unscathed. Congress has done next to nothing, the White House has waffled on its own policy agenda, and the last-minute drug pricing moves Trump announced last week will likely take months to implement.
It’s a sign that the industry is ready to move on from Trump’s chaotic first four years. And even if he wins, industry insiders speculate that a Trump 2.0 who isn’t constantly campaigning for reelection might simply care less about drug prices.
More likely — according to polls, at least — is the prospect of a Joe Biden presidency, which carries its own risks: Congressional Democrats pushing to allow Medicare negotiation, the new White House moving to cap launch prices for expensive new drugs, and plenty more. But the lobbyists I spoke to yesterday speculated that Biden’s predictability might be easier to manage than Trump’s chaos — even if Democrats drive a harder bargain.
I’ll leave you with PhRMA’s real dream scenario: A Biden presidency coupled with a GOP-controlled Senate. In other words: No angry presidential tweets, and at least two more years of gridlock.
With 42 days to go, PhRMA’s willingness to walk away from the table makes sense. The vaunted drug lobby is weeks away from running out the clock on Trump’s first term almost entirely unscathed. Congress has done next to nothing, the White House has waffled on its own policy agenda, and the last-minute drug pricing moves Trump announced last week will likely take months to implement.
It’s a sign that the industry is ready to move on from Trump’s chaotic first four years. And even if he wins, industry insiders speculate that a Trump 2.0 who isn’t constantly campaigning for reelection might simply care less about drug prices.
More likely — according to polls, at least — is the prospect of a Joe Biden presidency, which carries its own risks: Congressional Democrats pushing to allow Medicare negotiation, the new White House moving to cap launch prices for expensive new drugs, and plenty more. But the lobbyists I spoke to yesterday speculated that Biden’s predictability might be easier to manage than Trump’s chaos — even if Democrats drive a harder bargain.
I’ll leave you with PhRMA’s real dream scenario: A Biden presidency coupled with a GOP-controlled Senate. In other words: No angry presidential tweets, and at least two more years of gridlock.
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