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 The order under discussion would be much broader than the
Administration's previously disclosed proposal to lower prices on
physician administered, or Part B, drugs by tying prices to lower
costs in other countries.
The administration is now looking at ways to use this or a similar
method to lower prices in Medicare's much larger Part D, which is
for widely used prescription drugs patients take at home, such as
for cholesterol and blood pressure, the sources said.
The White House declined to comment, and it was unclear how far
along the any such plan was from being undertaken. The U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, also declined to comment.
Americans pay the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world
as most other developed nations have single-payer systems in which
the government negotiates drug prices for its people.
The U.S. government in 2016 spent around $29 billion on prescription
drugs in Medicare's Part B, which includes most injectable drugs,
and nearly $100 billion in Part D, which covers as pills and other
drugs usually dispensed in pharmacies.
Trump is also considering extending the pricing controls to the U.S.
Department of Defense, which runs the Tricare health plan for
military personnel and their families, as well as the Department of
Veterans Affairs, the sources said.
Executive orders often go through various drafts and incarnations,
and sometimes competing versions of the same order are floated
within the Trump White House. In addition, some executive orders do
not end up being signed.
The drug pricing executive order could come as soon as the next few
weeks, the sources said.
U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Wyden - the top Republican and
Democrat on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee - earlier this week
announced a proposal to lower prescription drug prices that could
save $100 billion in costs to government healthcare programs.
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The White House could delay the executive order if the Senate bill
looks likely to garner bipartisan support, the sources said.
If implemented, the executive order could significantly increase the
number of drugmakers whose sales could take a hit. AbbVie, Eli Lilly
and Co and Pfizer Inc all have substantial exposure to Medicare Part
D. Companies with major exposure to Part B include Merck & Co,
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Roche
In early July, Trump said his administration was working on a drug
pricing executive order with a "favored-nation clause, where we pay
whatever the lowest nation's price is." Trump has called the lower
prices paid by other nations "global freeloading."
Trump, a Republican, has struggled to deliver on a pledge to lower
drug prices before the November 2020 election. Healthcare costs are
expected to be a major focus of the campaign by Trump and Democratic
rivals vying to run against him.
The Trump administration earlier this month scrapped an ambitious
policy that would have required health insurers to pass billions of
dollars in rebates they receive from drugmakers to Medicare
patients.
Also in July, a federal judge struck down a Trump administration
rule that would have forced pharmaceutical companies to include the
wholesale prices of their drugs in television advertising.
(Reporting by Michael Erman and Carl O'Donnell in New York;
Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton in Washington and Caroline
Humer in New York; editing by Bill Berkrot)
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