This archive report was first published on 9 July 2019.
On July 9, 2019, a federal judge dealt a blow to the Trump administration's efforts to lower drug prices by blocking a rule requiring drug companies to list prices in TV ads.
The rule, which was set to take effect in July 2019, aimed to increase transparency in the pharmaceutical industry by forcing companies to disclose their list prices in television advertisements. However, the pharmaceutical companies Merck, Eli Lilly, and Amgen had sued to block the rule, arguing that it was beyond the reach of the federal government and a violation of the First Amendment.
According to David Mitchell, the founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs, the group never thought the TV-ad rule would get drugmakers to reduce their prices. However, he noted that the rule was at least a visible step that drugmakers could point to as evidence of their efforts to lower prices.
President Trump had announced plans to issue an executive order on drug pricing, but the breadth of the order remained unclear. The administration had also proposed other moves, including allowing older adults to more directly benefit from drug rebates in Medicare and tying the cost of some drugs to their price in other countries.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress had also put forward a range of legislation to address the issue, including limiting out-of-pocket costs for people covered by Medicare and allowing the federal government to directly negotiate the price of drugs.
