With Trump's avowed interest in seeing the cost of prescriptions cut, a Democratic laser focus on the issue could actually bring about legislation to bring down drug prices. (Photo: Shutterstock)
Democratic gains in the midterms could finally bring action on drug pricing—and the pharmaceutical industry is worried.
While there's still the chance of gridlock, thanks to a still-Republican-led Senate and an intractable president, Democrats—and Representative Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, now set to become the head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee—have the opportunity to flex some muscle on the issue. And that's something Cummings has already engaged in, albeit without the power behind it to make more change than noise.
The Hill reports that there's now actually a chance for bipartisan action on drug pricing, and with Trump's avowed interest in seeing the cost of prescriptions cut, a Democratic laser focus on the issue could actually bring about legislation.
It still remains to be seen whether Dems will be able to push past the drug lobby and any sympathetic ears in the Senate to take a bill all the way home, particularly if Trump decides to push back against any potential investigations of his own actions, but if Cummings has anything to do with it, Big Pharma may have more to worry about than hearings and complaints.
The report says, “In the majority, [Democrats] will be now able to conduct investigations into industry pricing practices and haul drug company executives in to testify,” which could give those companies a little more of a distraction than such concerns have in the past. And Stat News reports that Cummings' presence on the committee has already locked horns with pharma companies from Mylan to Valeant to Biogen and berated Martin Shkreli for a less-than-respectful attitude during a hearing.
One possibility that could finally see real action in a Democratic-led Congress is a move to allow drug importation; another is allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Trump has previously expressed support for such strategies, although he hasn't done anything to push them along since taking office.
But although Cummings will have plenty of other responsibilities heading up the oversight committee, it appears that change on the pharma front may finally be on the agenda—even if it manifests as “smaller drug pricing actions [that] could be attached to larger bills, such as must-pass spending legislation,” as pointed out by The Hill.
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
