Pharmaceutical and FDA News

Thurs, May 28, 2026:

• Ozempic may be reshaping the brain, scientists say. GLP-1 drugs may be rewiring circuits involved not only in appetite but in emotion, desire and beyond. - WP

Fri, May 22, 2026:

• The White House is endangering the decline in youth smoking by reversing course on policies that have dramatically cut smoking rates. The rise of e-cigarettes, or vapes, is deeply troubling, with about 8% of high school students using them regularly, and most using flavored e-cigarettes. The FDA recently reversed its ban on flavored products, which will allow unregulated products full of toxins to be sold, threatening to undermine 25 years of progress on smoking. - Bloomberg

Mon, May 18, 2026:

• Supreme Court rejects appeals from drug manufacturers over Medicare price negotiations - AP

Tues, May 12, 2026:

• Trump’s FDA chief is out after angering pharma CEOs, vaping lobbyists and anti-abortion activists - AP

Fri, May 8, 2026:

• Trump has signed off on ousting FDA chief, senior official says - CNN

Thurs, May 7, 2026:

• Trump Promised Cheaper Drugs. Some Prices Dropped. Many Others Shot Up. - KFF

Mon, May 4, 2026:

• Kennedy Starts a Push to Help Americans Quit Antidepressants. The health secretary has long complained that Americans overuse psychiatric medications. New policies he is introducing aim to change that. - NYT

Thurs, April 23, 2026:

• The White House announced a drug-pricing deal with Regeneron, the last holdout in the Trump administration’s yearlong pressure campaign on pharmaceutical companies to discount drugs in exchange for tariff relief - NOTUS

Wed, Feb 18, 2026:

• Trump Misleads on Drug Pricing Deals - FactCheck.org
  The median list price increase for hundreds of brand-name drugs so far in 2026 was 4%, which is the same median increase as in 2025…
  Trump’s claim that he is the first president to lower drug prices also ignores past efforts…(T)he Trump administration has continued to negotiate lower Medicare prices for some specific drugs under the Inflation Reduction Act...passed in 2022 under the Biden administration…
  “The majority of drugs that are listed on the TrumpRx website actually have generic competition, and for consumers it pays to shop… You can get a better deal by simply buying the generic, even when this coupon is being offered.”
  GoodRx or Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, another website that negotiates with drug manufacturers, offer cheaper cash prices for generic versions of at least 18 of the 43 brand-name drugs promoted on TrumpRx, according to a review by STAT. TrumpRx does not notify people that generics may be cheaper than the brand-name drugs.

Thurs, Feb 12, 2026:

• A coalition of more than 50 leaders of conservative and free-market organizations signed a letter to members of Congress on Thursday, opposing codifying President Trump’s “most favored nation” (MFN) drug pricing policy model into law. The letter, which argues an MFN pricing law would “import socialist price controls and values into our country,” highlights the growing tension between Trump and a portion of the conservative movement. - Hill

Tues, Feb 10, 2026:

• Washington tests a new way to bargain over high-cost cures - WP

Mon, Feb 9, 2026:

• Trump’s drug pricing plan gets lukewarm reception. Some Republicans question Congress’ role in Trump’s plan for “most favored nation” pricing - Roll Call

Thurs, Feb 5, 2026:

• White House Debuts Drug-Buying Site TrumpRx, With Roughly 40 Medications. Obesity and infertility treatments are among the first crop to appear with discounts on the government-run platform. - WSJ

• What to know about TrumpRx, the Trump administration’s prescription drug platform - STAT

  • White House launches direct-to-consumer drug site TrumpRx. How does TrumpRx compare to Good Rx and other discount drug plans?

  • TrumpRx is a small, politically branded storefront for a narrow set of manufacturer deals, while GoodRx is the underlying infrastructure and broad marketplace that powers many of those deals—but far more than TrumpRx.

  • TrumpRx currently features a limited list of mostly high‑profile brand drugs (e.g., certain fertility meds, GLP‑1s, insulin), where manufacturers have agreed to specific discount arrangements.

  • TrillionsWeekly: This is classic Trump: put his name on something that already exists (GoodRx and similar entities) in an effort to claim progress on healthcare affordability (although in certain instances pharma companies may provide special discounts to ingratiate themselves to Trump). The reality is that healthcare for millions (including low-income and disabled Americans) will become inaccessible or far more expensive due to expiration of the enhanced ACA subsidies and implementation of nearly a trillion dollars in Medicaid cuts over 10 years.

Tues, Feb 3, 2026:

• Moderna’s chilling announcement is a symptom of a deeper sickness. China is on track to become the world’s pharmaceutical leader if the U.S. keeps blowing its edge. Moderna’s recent disclosure that it plans no new late-stage vaccine trials because of policy uncertainty in the United States is a chilling consequence of the Trump administration’s anti-vaccine turn. - WP

Mon, Jan 12, 2026:

• AbbVie struck a deal with the Trump administration to invest $100 billion in its U.S. operations and lower Medicaid prices in exchange for tariff and pricing exemptions. The biopharmaceutical conglomerate said Monday it would put the money toward U.S.-based research and development, capital investments and manufacturing in the next 10 years. - WSJ

  • TrillionsWeekly Comment: Like so many of the Trump “investment” announcements and “executive orders,” the deal is unenforceable.

Sat, Jan 10, 2026:

• Supplements Are a $70 Billion Industry. RFK Jr. Is Good for Business. Secretary Kennedy has vowed to ‘end the war on vitamins,’ surrounding himself with advocates for pills, powders, tinctures and IV drips that aren’t subject to FDA approval. - WSJ

Mon, Jan 5, 2026:

• An AI revolution in drugmaking is under way - Economist

Fri, Dec 19, 2025:

• Drug companies line up to make deals with Trump after initial hesitation. Nine more drug companies announced “Most Favored Nation” deals with the White House, agreeing to discount drugs sold to the government and through TrumpRx.gov. – WP
  The (nine drug companies) will offer discounts on drugs sold to the government and to Americans through a new website, TrumpRx.gov, in exchange for tariff relief and other incentives, including faster Food and Drug Administration reviews for future approvals.

• Trump announces deals with nine drug companies and plans to meet with insurers next – CNN

• Trump payment tests aim to lower Medicare drug prices – Axios

Fri, Dec 5, 2025:

• FDA instability, alarm over agency’s direction escalate after top regulator exits. As leadership churn continues, FDA’s unpredictability rattles companies relying on stable regulation. – WP

Tues, Dec 2, 2025:

• The FDA’s top drug regulator submits his resignation to the agency – Politico

Thurs, Nov 6, 2025:

• Trump unveils deal to expand coverage and lower costs on obesity drugs – AP

• Obesity Drugs May Drop to as Little as $149 a Month. President Trump announced a deal with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to lower prices on hugely popular weight-loss drugs for Medicare, Medicaid and American patients who pay with their own money. – NYT

Tues, Nov 4, 2025:

• White House nears deal to lower obesity drug prices for Medicare coverage. The price of Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk drugs could be lowered to $149 per month in some cases. – WP

Thurs, Oct 23, 2025:

• Drug With a 30-Year Monopoly Is Target of State-Level Push to Curb Prices. In a first, Colorado will cap the price of Enbrel, an arthritis drug. Using patent tactics, the drugmaker Amgen has aggressively blocked competition for it. – NYT

Thurs, Oct 16, 2025:

• California to begin selling affordable state-branded insulin beginning next year – AP

Fri, Oct 10, 2025:

• Pfizer’s Deal on Drug Prices Gets Closer to the Right Idea – Bloomberg Editorial Bd.

Thurs, Oct 1, 2025:

• Trump Keeps Blurring the Line Between Capitalism and Socialism. President’s plans on drug pricing echo themes of Zohran Mamdani, democratic socialist running for mayor of New York – WSJ

Tues, Sept 30, 2025:

• Pfizer agrees to lower prescription drug costs for Medicaid in a deal with Trump – AP

Fri, Sept 12, 2025:

• Effects of the 2022 Reconciliation Act’s Drug Provisions: What Have We Learned So Far and What Questions Remain? – CBO

Wed, Aug 13, 2025:

• Drug Approvals Hit an FDA Wall. Therapies for rare and deadly disease are dying in Marty Makary’s shop. – WSJ

Tues, July 8, 2025:

• Inside the Collapse of the F.D.A. How the new health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is dismantling the agency. – NYT

Mon, May 12, 2025:

• With No Real Policy, Trump Asks Drugmakers to Lower U.S. Prices. The president has long complained that the United States pays more for medicines than other wealthy countries. But he offered no clear legal authority to mandate lower prices. – NYT

• Drugmakers Spared Worst-Case Drug Pricing Scenario for Now. Trump says if companies and the government don’t align on tying U.S. drug prices to other countries, the administration will impose its own plan – WSJ

Wed, May 7, 2025:

• The Federal Perspective on Coverage of Medications to Treat Obesity – CBO

• President Donald Trump plans to revive an effort to dramatically slash drug costs by tying the amount the government pays for some medicines to lower prices abroad – Politico

Mon, May 5, 2025:

• Sens. Hawley and Welch are teaming up on bipartisan legislation aimed at lowering drug costs by barring drug companies in the U.S. from charging higher prices than the international average. - Politico
  “The White House is pushing a proposal to reduce spending in Medicaid by aligning what the safety net program pays for drugs with the lower prices paid abroad.”

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