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 The White House, which has said it backs the legislation, has
promised to bring down drug prices for U.S. consumers, an important
campaign issue for Trump, a Republican, as well as for Democratic
rivals vying to oppose him in the November 2020 presidential
election.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that Trump is considering a sweeping
executive order that would cut prices on virtually all branded
prescription drugs sold to Medicare and other government programs,
according to two industry sources who had discussions with the White
House.
Medicare is the U.S. government program that provides health
coverage to people aged 65 and older, or who are disabled.
The Senate bill moved out of the Senate Finance committee on
Thursday morning and to the floor, the next step in the legislative
process. White House spokesman Judd Deere tweeted on Thursday that
it applauded the move.
PhRMA, the lobbying group, said in a news release on Thursday that
the legislation was not the right approach to keep drug prices down
and that it imposes harmful price controls in Medicare Part D, the
program for self-administered prescription drugs.
It did not disclose which companies accompanied it to the meeting
with Trump and was not immediately available for further comment.
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Amgen Inc confirmed that it had attended the meeting but declined
further comment.
A source familiar with the situation said Pfizer was also present. A
second source said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Secretary Alex Azar was also there. Politico first reported about
the meeting late on Wednesday.
The Senate bill aims to lower drug prices by forcing pharmaceutical
companies to pay rebates to Medicare if they raise prices above the
rate of inflation.
The proposal also suggests a cap on out-of-pocket costs for drugs
covered under Medicare's Part D and changes to the program's Part B
that covers physician-administered drugs.
(Reporting by Michael Erman, Carl O'Donnell and Caroline Humer in
New York, Roberta Rampton in Washington D.C. and Saumya Sibi Joseph
in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Bill Berkrot)
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