DRUGS/HHS/NOMINATIONS/PHARMA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Alex Azar, a former drug industry executive who Republicans have nominated to run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on Wednesday [11-29-17] promised to lower drug prices that he said are too high, saying he would look at abuse of patent laws that delays generic competition.
Azar, who worked at Eli Lilly & Co, said his top priorities would be drug pricing, affordable healthcare, Medicare innovation and the opioid crisis that has killed tens of thousands of Americans…
Both Democratic and Republican senators repeatedly pressed Azar, who is also a former drug industry lobbyist, on how he would rein in rising prescription drug prices.
The hearing grew contentious when Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren pressed him on whether drug company chief executives should be held personally accountable for actions like price fixing and Azar declined to answer the question.
Two Democratic lawmakers last year called for a federal probe into whether Eli Lilly, Sanofi SA, Merck & Co and Novo Nordisk A/S colluded to set prices on insulin and other diabetes drugs.”
-Yasmeen Abutaleb, “Health secretary nominee Azar says drug pricing a top priority,” Reuters, Nov. 29, 2017 07:29am