Senator Ron Wyden demands proof of Trump’s drug price claims | Regional

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden is demanding transparency from President Trump’s nominee for the second-in-command position at the Department of Health and Human Services before a confirmation vote.

Wyden sent a letter to Chris Klomp, the nominee for Deputy Secretary at HHS and the lead negotiator of pharmaceutical agreements. The Oregon Democrat is calling on the administration to disclose all agreements between HHS and drug manufacturers concerning most-favored-nation pricing, all materials related to the GENEROUS Model and all documents about anything of value provided to pharmaceutical companies in connection with these deals.

“The Trump administration continues to use Oval Office fanfare to gaslight Congress and the American people, suggesting these agreements offer the United States the ‘lowest prescription drug prices anywhere in the world,'” Wyden wrote. “There is absolutely no proof to back up this claim; in fact, all available information suggests the primary beneficiaries of these sweetheart deals are the pharmaceutical companies that negotiated tariff relief, fast-track drug approvals and blanket exemptions from international reference pricing Medicare pilot programs.”

Wyden said nearly a year of unfulfilled promises and hiding information from Congress amounts to an operational and moral failure. He has put a spotlight on Trump’s efforts that claim he’s lowering drug prices while bringing Big Pharma CEOs in front of Oval Office cameras.

This spring, every Democrat on the Committee introduced legislation that would reveal the terms of these agreements and whether patients and taxpayers receive any savings from these deals.