Two weeks ago, popular vote loser Donald Trump said this: "I think we're going to have some of the big drug companies, in two weeks, they're going to announce because of what we did, they're going to announce voluntary massive drops in prices." The "what we did" was HHS Secretary Alex Azar promising as of yet unspecified "bold action" on drug prices.
It's now been two weeks, which makes Tuesday's hearing at a Senate Health Committee hearing with Azar quite convenient. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wanted some clarification about that that promise from Trump. "He said there would be massive decreases in prices within two weeks," she told Azar. "It's been two weeks and there have been no decreases and an indication of increase." Why have there been no decreases, she wondered.
Azar insisted that there are "actually several drug companies that are looking at substantial and material decreases in drug prices," but that the go-betweens in the system, the negotiators known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are actually discouraging these decreases because the PBMs then wouldn't get as much back in rebates. A response Warren wasn't satisfied with. "In other words," she said, "the president's promise that we would see massive decreases in two weeks hasn't happened and you don't have anyone lined up who's actually going to decrease drug prices."
Pretty much. In fact, just last week Bayer announced massive hikes to two of its cancer drugs. Massive as in $1,000 a month increases to both Stivarga, for patients with colorectal, liver and gastrointestinal cancers and Nexavar, which is used in kidney, liver and thyroid cancers. Stivarga costs about $16,860 a month, and Nexavar about $18,670 a month. A month. It wasn't just Bayer and these two drugs, either. The Post reports that "Wells Fargo analyst David Maris found that although fewer drug-price increases occurred in May than in previous months, dozens of increases did occur."
It's almost enough to make you think that drug companies aren't paying any attention to what Trump says and certainly aren't worried about any regulatory action his administration might take. You'd be right.