President-elect Donald Trump went after the pharmaceutical industry in the opening remarks of his first press conference since the election.
He told reporters these companies were, “getting away with murder”, over what they charge the government for certain drugs promising this would change when he takes office, according to Reuters.
Some suggestions Trump mentioned during the briefing included creating a competitive bidding process that could allow Medicare to work with pharmaceutical companies on negotiating the best prices for drugs while also potentially finding a way to make it easier to import drugs at a lower price.
“We are going to start bidding. We are going to save billions of dollars over time,” Trump told the journalists.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump discussed the issue of drug pricing during the 2016 presidential campaign, but Trump’s opponent was a more vocal critic, which is why shares in the sector initially soared after the election results came in.
However, some companies believed the drug pricing issue wouldn’t fade away under the new administration therefore certain actions would need to be taken to guard against potential backlash.
Allergan CEO Brent Saunders suggested his peers should follow a path where they self-regulate themselves by pledging to limit price increases to a certain percentage and enabling easier access to these medications.
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) will reveal its average 2016 increases in price for its drugs next month, which could make the health care giant’s counterparts be more transparent about their respective price hikes.
A number of biotech and drug shares shank after Trump’s remarks, noted FiercePharma. The NASDAQ Biotechnology Index went down 3.67 percent early Wednesday afternoon.
Filed Under: Drug Discovery
