Drug pricing measures in Obama's FY17 budget

President Obama's FY17 budget request includes several programs intended to reduce the cost of pharmaceuticals, including allowing Medicaid to negotiate prices for high-cost drugs and establishing transparency and reporting requirements in drug pricing. The White House released the proposed budget Tuesday, and HHS released a (see BioCentury Extra, Feb. 1).

It would provide $309 million to NIH to support development of the Precision Medicine Initiative, including $300 million for its research cohort 1 million volunteers. The allocation is a $107 million bump from FY16. Obama announced the initiative last year (see BioCentury Extra, Jan. 30, 2015). ...