Trump: Administration Will Bid on Drug Prices

President-elect Donald Trump criticized the pharmaceutical industry and said his administration will bid on drug prices at a press conference on Wednesday.

Pharmaceutical companies have “a lot of lobbies,” Trump said, adding that the country does “very little bidding” on prescription drug prices.

“We’re the largest buyer of drugs in the world, but yet we don’t bid properly,” Trump said at a press conference in Trump Tower, his first since July and since winning the 2016 election. “We’re going to save billions of dollars over a period of time.”

During the campaign, Trump called for Medicare to negotiate drug costs. After being elected president, he told Time he would take on drug prices.

Negotiating Medicare drug prices is a proposal typically embraced by Democrats and rejected by Republicans. Current Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell has called for Medicare to negotiate drug prices, but Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), Trump’s pick to lead HHS, has opposed it in the past.

Trump also criticized the industry for leaving the United States.

“We have to get our drug industry coming back,” he said.