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By Michael Erman and Mariam Sunny
March 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. government has begun engaging pharmaceutical companies as it works to build consensus around legislation to write President Donald Trump’s most-favored-nation drug pricing policy into law, HHS chief counsel Chris Klomp said on Thursday.
U.S. patients by far pay the most for prescription medicines, often nearly three times more than in other developed nations, and Trump has been pressuring drugmakers to lower their prices to what people pay elsewhere.
As part of that effort, the administration has reached agreements with 16 major drugmakers to slash prices of their medicines for the government’s Medicaid program and for cash payers.
"We’re also beginning to read in pharmaceutical companies to help them understand the nature of the legislative text, to see if they can buy in, if there’s a version we might reach," Klomp said at a conference held by Stat News.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last month appointed Chris Klomp as chief counselor at the U.S. Health and Human Services to oversee all operations of the department. He also serves as the deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as well as the director of Medicare.