Pressure to tackle drug pricing mounts as Biden releases executive order
A day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said House Democrats are considering adding drug pricing legislation to a budget reconciliation bill, President Joe Biden released a 72-point executive order that seeks to promote competition among U.S. businesses and includes a near-term deadline for HHS to develop a plan to take on drug prices.
Four initiatives in particular take aim directly at the biopharma industry with the executive order: directing FDA to “work with states and tribes to safely import prescription drugs from Canada;” calling on HHS to increase support for generic and biosimilar drugs and to issue a “comprehensive plan within 45 days to combat high prescription drug prices and price gouging;” and encourages the Federal Trade Commission to prohibit by rule “pay for delay” deals, in which brand-name companies pay generics manufacturers to stay out of the market. ...