The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has stepped up its efforts against soaring drug costs in the U.S., sending a newly proposed drug pricing rule for review at the White House.
The White House announced this week that a proposed drug pricing rule formulated by the HHS and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is currently pending review at its Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
The rule titled “Guarding U.S. Medicare Against Rising Drug Costs (GUARD) Model” marked the latest pilot project initiated by the Trump administration to lower U.S. drug prices. Last week, the OMB received another proposed rule titled “Global Benchmark for Efficient Drug Pricing (GLOBE) model” drafted by the HHS and CMS for review.
U.S. healthcare regulators use pilot projects to determine the level of savings proposed rules can generate and experiment with their implementation before the rules actually take effect.
The initiatives follow an executive order issued by Donald Trump in May requiring HHS to negotiate with drugmakers to lower the U.S. drug prices to the levels in other developed nations as part of the most-favored-nation drug pricing policy.