Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was relaxing and invigorating because that oh-so-familiar routine of meetings, Skype calls, and endless texting has predictably returned, even though this is a short week on this side of the pond. So time to get cracking. We are firing up the coffee kettle and brewing a few cups of stimulation — our flavor of the day is coconut. Meanwhile, here are a few items of interest for you to peruse. Hope you have a productive day and please do keep in touch.
President Trump is backing off his 2016 campaign pledge to negotiate drug prices for Medicare with drug makers, drawing fire from Democrats after months of talks on the issue with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), The Hill reports. Her staff spent months trying to get White House support for her measure to allow the government to negotiate prices for up to 250 drugs per year, with tough financial penalties for companies that refused to come to the table. But Trump is now publicly bashing the bill, although he has not proposed an alternative.
However, President Trump did indicate he will soon release a plan to let Florida and other states import prescription medicines to combat high drug prices, Reuters adds. Drug makers have staunchly opposed such a plan, which has been mulled for years but never implemented. “We will soon be putting more options on the table,” Trump wrote in a series of tweets last Friday, adding that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “and her Do Nothing Democrats drug pricing bill doesn’t do the trick.”
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