Can a top Republican from a bygone political era fix pharma’s woes in Washington? Eric Cantor once led a GOP revolution. Now he’ll guide PhRMA through Trump’s

https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/01/eric-cantor-phrma-populist-drug-policy/ In the television show “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” there’s a recurring gag where the main characters destroy a cabbage seller’s cart, causing the heads to spill everywhere. It happens a lot. I wonder if Eric Cantor might relate to that cabbage seller right now, at least a little bit. The drug industry lobbying group PhRMA has tapped the former GOP House majority leader as pharma’s top voice in Washington, just as calls for lower drug prices and a change to the status quo reach a fever pitch. Cantor has tangled with populism before. He was seen as effective as the party’s “chief political strategist” during his time in Congress, but he couldn’t survive his brush with an insurgent, right-wing Republican, who unseated Cantor in 2014. Can he navigate better this time on behalf of pharma? By Daniel PayneOct. 1, 2026 Washington Correspondent