It was grudging praise for President Donald Trump yet considering the source it was surprising bordering on astounding praise. Atlantic magazine writer Nicholas Florko should therefore be put on the alert to prepare for his shunning by his colleagues and other members of the media for daring to give what is in effect high praise to Trump for forcing Pfizer to agree to slash its drug prices with other pharmaceutical companies expected to follow suit.
Florko's Thought Crime arrived on Thursday in the form of his article, "Pfizer Finally Gave Trump What He Wanted." The praise from Florko did not come easily yet he had to admit that Trump achieved a significant health care accomplishment.
Donald Trump, always one to tout his knack for dealmaking, declared on Tuesday that he’d just struck one of his best deals ever. “This is one of the biggest medical announcements that this office has ever made,” Trump said in the Oval Office, flanked by his top health officials. They’d gathered to announce that the administration had cut a deal with the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Trump couldn’t help but smirk. “I’m surprised you’re agreeing to this,” he told Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer.
Even drug-industry lobbyists are reportedly surprised by what Pfizer agreed to. The company has a history of outmaneuvering Trump’s attempts to lower drug costs, yet it pledged to cut the costs of its drugs in the United States to match the lower prices it charges other developed countries. Pfizer also agreed to participate in TrumpRx, a new website the administration announced on Tuesday that will allow Americans to buy certain drugs at steep discounts.
TrumpRx! Do you realize how much angst and anger that will cause the Atlantic readers just reading that?
...By the end of Trump’s first month in office, he had summoned pharmaceutical executives to the White House to needle them about the issue. “I think you people know very well, it’s very unfair to this country,” he told them. He spent much of his first term unveiling policy after policy meant to reduce what Americans pay for prescription drugs. Time and time again, Trump’s attempts failed—until now. By getting one of the world’s most powerful drug companies to finally agree to his demands, Trump has caught a white whale.
And this article will cause the left to become even more obsessed than Captain Ahab.
There is also a lot of ambiguity about the degree to which Americans will benefit from TrumpRx, which is reportedly set to launch next year and will offer drugs directly to consumers. According to a Pfizer spokesperson, the specific details of the company’s deal with the administration are confidential; she did tell me that Pfizer’s ointment for eczema will be offered on TrumpRx at an 80 percent discount.
Ironically, liberals will need to use TrumpRx just to get the drugs to alleviate the pain of them having to read about TrumpRx in this article.
WARNING! If you suffer from extreme TDS please do not read the statement by the Pfizer CEO at the end of the following paragraph:
In his second term, however, Trump has proved more adept at figuring out how to get his way. Law firms, news outlets, and universities have all given in to the president’s various demands during his first nine months in office. Pfizer is no different. In the days leading up to the September 29 deadline, the president announced that drug companies that aren’t already making some of their products in the United States will face 100 percent tariffs. The announcement was not explicitly framed as a cudgel against drugmakers that had failed to agree to Trump’s previous pricing demands, but a three-year exemption from the tariffs was apparently enough to get Pfizer on board. Tariffs are “the most powerful tool to motivate behaviors,” Bourla said on Tuesday, acknowledging that they’d “clearly motivated” the company’s concessions.
So the Trump tariffs, universally derided by liberals, was the key to get Pfizer to agree to slash its drug prices as admitted by its own CEO.
...the Pfizer deal has put drugmakers at a negotiating deficit unlike anything else seen in the Trump era. The pharmaceutical industry has shown itself to be a worthy opponent for Trump, but its lobbyists haven’t yet figured out how to fight back against a president who has been much more brazen in his second term than in his first. The rules of the game have changed. Pfizer’s deal might have taken Trump by surprise, but other companies may soon very well top it.
OUCH! Does TrumpRx carry drugs that alleviate the angst caused by TDS?