By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
Please enjoy this brief update on American Sunrise with Dr. Gina Loudon where she asks Dr. McCullough about Trump’s executive order to reduce drug prices.
The order gives drugmakers price targets in the next 30 days, and will take further action to lower prices if those companies do not make "significant progress" toward those goals.
Much of the announcement has been left up to wishful interpretation. McCullough told Loudon that generic drugs are already low cost, so the target must be high-cost branded drugs and it will be likely that the pharmaceutical companies have to show regulators their costs for Americans are the same as Canadians and Europeans.
"Everybody should equalize. Everybody should pay the same price," Trump said.
The United States pays the highest prices for prescription drugs, often nearly three times more than other developed nations. Trump tried in his first term to bring the U.S. in line with other countries but was blocked by the courts.
McCullough told Loudon that branded drugs are little-used because of the high-cost. If they were more reasonably priced, the volume of units sold would go up and and likely topline pharmaceutical revenues would increase.
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Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
President, McCullough Foundation
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