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President Trump announced late last month that his administration will push back on high drug costs through a number of proposals, including linking Medicare Part B prices to an international pricing index that includes 16 other countries and by requiring pharmaceutical companies to include drugs’ list prices in TV ads, the second of which later passed the Senate as an amendment to the latest appropriations package of $1 million to the Department of Health and Human Services. (Syed Kaleem, 11/9)

President Trump and House Democrats may not agree on much, but both seem eager to slash the price of prescription drugs. The most recent signal came shortly before the election when the president hailed plans to experiment with a new way of setting prices for most drugs administered through Medicare’s Part B program. A few months earlier, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) reportedly delivered a blunt warning directly to the bio-pharmaceutical industry’s representatives in Washington that her party is developing an ambitious price-cutting agenda; so watch out in 2019. (Robert D. Atkinson, 11/10)

The Trump administration's new stance on drug prices goes as follows: "Socialist countries are ripping off American companies, so it's time for the U.S. to join them." It's the complete opposite of Trump's admirable defense of American interests in other areas. The Chinese government is ripping off American companies' intellectual property, so Trump is going to bat for them, using a variety of tough, aggressive approaches to force Chinese President Xi Jinping to the negotiating table. (Michael Busler, 11/11)

One thing we hope the Dispatch series “Side Effects” has made clear is just how unclear our nation’s drug-pricing system is — how many hidden manipulations affect the price we pay for medications and where that money goes. Making those machinations more visible is the key to driving change in a system that benefits invisible players at the expense of the taxpaying public and independent pharmacists. (11/07)