Draft Order on Drug Prices Proposes Easing Regulations<br />“This is the executive order to lower drug prices — why would you put in a provision that would raise drug prices?”<br />In recent weeks, the industry has shown signs it believes it is getting a fairer shake.<br />However, “other countries pay lower prices for drugs in part<br />because their governments control prices,” said Allan Coukell, senior director of health programs at the Pew Charitable Trusts.<br />“I do believe that the president wants to do something to lower drug prices for people,<br />but this is a far cry from what he said on the campaign trail,” said David Mitchell, the founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs, a nonprofit that does not take money from the industry.<br />For example, the document directs the United States trade representative to conduct a study of price differences between the United States and other countries, and to review trade agreements<br />that may need to be revised “to promote greater intellectual property protection and competition in the global market.”<br />The pharmaceutical industry has said that Americans pay the highest prices to compensate for low prices in other countries.<br />But a draft of an executive order on drug prices appears to give the pharmaceutical industry<br />much of what it has asked for — and no guarantee that costs to consumers will drop.<br />He has accused the industry of “getting away with murder,” and said<br />that he wanted to allow the federal government to negotiate directly with drug companies over the price of drugs covered by Medicare.
