NEW YORK — Pharmaceutical companies have agreed to slash the Medicare prices for 15 prescription drugs after months of negotiations, reductions that are expected to produce billions in savings for taxpayers and older adults, the Trump administration said.
But the net prices it unveiled for a 30-day supply of each drug are not what Medicare recipients will pay at their pharmacy counters, since those final amounts will depend on each individual’s plan and how much they spend on prescriptions in a given year.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. touted the deals as part of the administration’s efforts to address affordability concerns among Americans. The Medicare drug negotiation program that made them possible is mandated by law and began under President Joe Biden’s administration.
“President Trump directed us to stop at nothing to lower health care costs for the American people,” Kennedy said in a statement Tuesday evening. “As we work to Make America Healthy Again, we will use every tool at our disposal to deliver affordable health care to seniors.”
The announcement marks the completion of a second round of negotiations under a 2022 law that allows Medicare to haggle over the price it pays on the most popular and expensive prescription drugs used by older Americans, bringing the total number of negotiated drug prices to 25. The new round of negotiated prices will go into effect in 2027. Reduced prices for the inaugural round of 10 drugs negotiated by the Biden administration last year will go into effect in January.
The latest negotiated prices apply to some of the prescription medications on which Medicare spends the most money, including the massively popular GLP-1 weight-loss and diabetes drugs Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy. Some of the other drugs involved in the negotiations include Trelegy Ellipta, which treats asthma; Otezla, a psoriatic arthritis drug; and various drugs that treat diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome and different forms of cancer.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, said the administration delivered “substantially better outcomes for taxpayers and seniors in the Medicare Part D program” than the previous year’s deals.
Under the first round of Medicare price negotiations, the Biden administration said the program would have saved about $6 billion on net covered prescription drug costs, or about 22%, if it had been in effect the previous year. The Trump administration said its latest round would have saved the government about $8.5 billion in net spending, or 36%, if it had been in effect last year.
It’s unclear exactly how much money the newly announced deals could save Medicare beneficiaries when they are buying prescription drugs at the pharmacy because those costs are determined by various individual factors.
A new rule that kicked off this year also caps out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $2,000, giving some relief to older adults affected by high-cost prescriptions. The administration said estimated out-of-pocket savings for Medicare beneficiaries with drug plans is about $685 million.
Spencer Perlman, director of health care research at Veda Partners, said the Trump administration’s improved outcomes probably resulted from the mix of drugs being negotiated and lessons learned from the first year of negotiations.
Net drug prices are proprietary, he said, but “if we take the administration at their word, I think it demonstrates that they have secured meaningful price concessions for seniors, meaning the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program is working as intended.”
The GLP-1 weight-loss drugs that were part of the negotiations have been especially scrutinized for their high out-of-pocket costs. Yet it’s still unclear to what extent Medicare beneficiaries who want to use the drugs to treat obesity will be able to do so.
Medicare has long been prohibited from paying for weight-loss treatments, but a separate deal recently announced between the Trump administration and two pharmaceutical companies included plans for a pilot program that will expand coverage for the drugs to additional high-risk obese and overweight people.
The Trump administration this year has also negotiated several unrelated deals with drug companies to lower the cost of their products for the wider population.
Pharmaceutical companies, meanwhile, have sued over the Medicare drug negotiations enabled by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and remain opposed to them.
“Whether it is the IRA or MFN, government price setting for medicines is the wrong policy for America,” Alex Schriver, senior vice president of public affairs at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, said in a statement. “These flawed policies also threaten future medical innovation by siphoning $300 billion from biopharmaceutical research, undermining the American economy and our ability to compete globally.”
Next year, Medicare will negotiate prices for another round of 15 drugs, including physician-administered drugs for the first time.
NEW YORK (AP) — Pharmaceutical companies have agreed to slash the Medicare prices for 15 prescription drugs after months of negotiations, reductions that are expected to produce billions in savings for taxpayers and older adults, the Trump administration said.
But the net prices it unveiled for a 30-day supply of each drug are not what Medicare recipients will pay at their pharmacy counters, since those final amounts will depend on each individual’s plan and how much they spend on prescriptions in a given year.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. touted the deals as part of the administration’s efforts to address affordability concerns among Americans. The Medicare drug negotiation program that made them possible is mandated by law and began under President Joe Biden’s administration.
“President Trump directed us to stop at nothing to lower health care costs for the American people,” Kennedy said in a statement Tuesday evening. “As we work to Make America Healthy Again, we will use every tool at our disposal to deliver affordable health care to seniors.”
The announcement marks the completion of a second round of negotiations under a 2022 law that allows Medicare to haggle over the price it pays on the most popular and expensive prescription drugs used by older Americans, bringing the total number of negotiated drug prices to 25. The new round of negotiated prices will go into effect in 2027. Reduced prices for the inaugural round of 10 drugs negotiated by the Biden administration last year will go into effect in January.
Price negotiations apply to drugs treating diabetes, asthma, cancers and more
The latest negotiated prices apply to some of the prescription medications on which Medicare spends the most money, including the massively popular GLP-1 weight-loss and diabetes drugs Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy. Some of the other drugs involved in the negotiations include Trelegy Ellipta, which treats asthma; Otezla, a psoriatic arthritis drug; and various drugs that treat diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome and different forms of cancer.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, said the administration delivered “substantially better outcomes for taxpayers and seniors in the Medicare Part D program” than the previous year’s deals.
Under the first round of Medicare price negotiations, the Biden administration said the program would have saved about $6 billion on net covered prescription drug costs, or about 22%, if it had been in effect the previous year. The Trump administration said its latest round would have saved the government about $8.5 billion in net spending, or 36%, if it had been in effect last year.
It’s unclear exactly how much money the newly announced deals could save Medicare beneficiaries when they are buying prescription drugs at the pharmacy because those costs are determined by various individual factors.
A new rule that kicked off this year also caps out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $2,000, giving some relief to older adults affected by high-cost prescriptions. The administration said estimated out-of-pocket savings for Medicare beneficiaries with drug plans is about $685 million.
Spencer Perlman, director of health care research at Veda Partners, said the Trump administration’s improved outcomes probably resulted from the mix of drugs being negotiated and lessons learned from the first year of negotiations.
Net drug prices are proprietary, he said, but “if we take the administration at their word, I think it demonstrates that they have secured meaningful price concessions for seniors, meaning the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program is working as intended.”
Medicare recipients can’t get GLP-1 drugs for obesity, but the administration is making changes
The GLP-1 weight-loss drugs that were part of the negotiations have been especially scrutinized for their high out-of-pocket costs. Yet it’s still unclear to what extent Medicare beneficiaries who want to use the drugs to treat obesity will be able to do so.
Medicare has long been prohibited from paying for weight-loss treatments, but a separate deal recently announced between the Trump administration and two pharmaceutical companies included plans for a pilot program that will expand coverage for the drugs to additional high-risk obese and overweight people.
The Trump administration this year has also negotiated several unrelated deals with drug companies to lower the cost of their products for the wider population.
Pharmaceutical companies, meanwhile, have sued over the Medicare drug negotiations enabled by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and remain opposed to them.
“Whether it is the IRA or MFN, government price setting for medicines is the wrong policy for America,” Alex Schriver, senior vice president of public affairs at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, said in a statement. “These flawed policies also threaten future medical innovation by siphoning $300 billion from biopharmaceutical research, undermining the American economy and our ability to compete globally.”
Next year, Medicare will negotiate prices for another round of 15 drugs, including physician-administered drugs for the first time.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug center abruptly resigned Sunday after federal officials began reviewing “serious concerns about his personal conduct,” according to a government spokesperson.
Dr. George Tidmarsh, who was named to the FDA post in July, was placed on leave Friday after officials in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of General Counsel were notified of the issues, HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard said in an email. Tidmarsh then resigned Sunday morning.
“Secretary Kennedy expects the highest ethical standards from all individuals serving under his leadership and remains committed to full transparency,” Hilliard said.
The departure came the same day that a drugmaker connected to one of Tidmarsh’s former business associates filed a lawsuit alleging that he made “false and defamatory statements,” during his time at the FDA.
The lawsuit, brought by Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, alleges that Tidmarsh used his FDA position to pursue a “longstanding personal vendetta” against the chair of the company’s board of directors, Kevin Tang.
Tang previously served as a board member of several drugmakers where Tidmarsh was an executive, including La Jolla Pharmaceutical, and was involved in his ouster from those leadership positions, according to the lawsuit.
Messages placed to Tidmarsh and his lawyer were not immediately returned late Sunday.
Tidmarsh founded and led a series of pharmaceutical companies over several decades working in California’s pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Before joining the FDA, he also served as an adjunct professor at Stanford University. He was recruited to join the agency over the summer after meeting with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary.
Tidmarsh’s ouster is the latest in a string of haphazard leadership changes at the agency, which has been rocked for months by firings, departures and controversial decisions on vaccines, fluoride and other products.
Dr. Vinay Prasad, who oversees FDA’s vaccine and biologics center, resigned in July after coming under fire from conservative activists close to President Donald Trump, only to rejoin the agency two weeks later at the behest of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The FDA’s drug center, which Tidmarsh oversaw, has lost more than 1,000 staffers over the past year to layoffs or resignations, according to agency figures. The center is the largest division of the FDA and is responsible for the review, safety and quality control of prescription and over-the-counter medicines.
In September, Tidmarsh drew public attention for a highly unusual post on LinkedIn stating that one of Aurinia Pharmaceutical’s products, a kidney drug, had “not been shown to provide a direct clinical benefit for patients.” It’s very unusual for an FDA regulator to single out individual companies and products in public comments online.
According to the company’s lawsuit, Aurinia’s stock dropped 20% shortly after the post, wiping out more than $350 million in shareholder value.
Tidmarsh later deleted the LinkedIn post and said he had posted it in his personal capacity, not as an FDA official.
Aurinia’s lawsuit also alleges, among other things, that Tidmarsh used his post at FDA to target a type of thyroid drug made by another company, American Laboratories, where Tang also serves as board chair.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court of Maryland, seeks compensatory and punitive damages and “to set the record straight,” according to the company.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in file photo at the White House with President Trump. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
WASHINGTON, DC – The White House is announcing another plan meant to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. On Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced said the Food and Drug Administration will be making it easier for ” biosimilars” to enter U.S. markets, something Europe has been doing for decades. Biosimilars are drugs similar to those that have been proven to work and have already been approved by the FDA.
“This is a victory for patients, for innovation, and commonsense,” Kennedy told reporters. “In Europe, for example, regulators have approved more than twice as many biosimilars as the United States,” he added.
Kennedy says he is cutting the red tape, and clinical trials that are necessary before these types of drugs can be sold in the U.S.
The health care giant said Tuesday that it will separate its orthopedics business into a standalone company known as DePuy Synthes. The move leaves J&J focused on its pharmaceutical and MedTech segments, which make prescription drugs, contact lenses and technology to treat cardiovascular disease and help with surgeries.
The orthopedics business will be led by Namal Nawana, a former CEO of the medical technology business Smith & Nephew, which makes products for sports medicine and wound management and also focuses on orthopedics.
J&J’s orthopedics business pulled in more than $9 billion in sales last year. But the company said the split will help it focus on higher-growth areas.
The company expects to complete the move over the next 18 to 24 months.
J&J announced in November, 2021, that it would turn its consumer health business, which makes Band-Aids, Listerine and Tylenol into a separate company that later became known as Kenvue.
New Brunswick, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson also reported on Tuesday better-than-expected third-quarter earnings and reaffirmed its adjusted earnings guidance for the year.
Company shares slipped more than $2 to $188.74 in premarket trading. The shares have already climbed more than 30% so far this year.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — AstraZeneca on Friday became the second major pharmaceutical manufacturer to announce it had agreed to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Medicaid under a deal struck with the Trump administration that avoided its threats of steep tariffs.
President Donald Trump made the announcement in the Oval Office with AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot, who said that during tough negotiations to reach a deal, Trump and his team of officials had “really kept me up at night.”
Under the agreement, AstraZeneca will charge most-favored-nation pricing to Medicaid, while guaranteeing such pricing on newly launched drugs, Trump said. That involves matching the lowest price offered in other developed nations.
“For many years, Americans have paid the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, by far,” Trump said, adding that the new deal may cut prices to “the lowest price anywhere in the world. That’s what we get.”
AstraZeneca’s deal follows a similar agreement Pfizer announced late last month. Advocates have generally praised the administration’s efforts to cut drug prices, though some have expressed concerns that too much onus is being placed on the manufacturers to lower costs without implementing U.S. policy safeguards to ensure such outcomes.
Both agreements, however, build on an executive order Trump signed in May that set a deadline for drugmakers to electively lower prices or face new limits on what the government will pay. Trump had suggested that a series of deals with drug companies would subsequently be coming.
“The tariffs were a big reason he came here,” Trump said of Soriot.
Cambridge, United Kingdom-based AstraZeneca makes a range of cancer treatments. Its products include the lung cancer drug Tagrisso; Lynparza, an oral treatment for ovarian cancer, and Calquence, which treats chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Those drugs brought in a total of more than $7.5 billion in U.S. sales last year.
AstraZeneca announced Thursday that it would spend $4.5 billion on a new manufacturing plant near Charlottesville, Virginia, and its Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, spoke during Friday’s Oval Office announcement to cheer groundbreaking on the new facility.
The drugmaker said that project was the centerpiece of $50 billion in investments the company plans to make in the U.S. by 2030.
AstraZeneca said it plans to reach $80 billion in total revenue by then, half of which will be generated in the United States.
Trump predicted the investment’s could lead to 3,600 jobs domestically “just to begin with.”
One of the AstraZeneca drugs was already subject to price reductions due to a Medicare negotiating strategy implemented under President Biden. Still, Trump insisted that Democrats shouldn’t “get credit” and suggested the party’s key leaders may try.
The announcements came months after AstraZeneca said it was scrapping plans to expand a vaccine manufacturing plant in its home country. The company blamed several factors, including reduced government financial support.
The Trump administration has put up a landing page for its new website, TrumpRX.gov, where people will be able to buy drugs directly from manufacturers, according to officials. Both Pfizer and AstraZeneca will offer medications through the site, according to the administration.
The website’s landing page features two very large pictures of Trump and a promise that the site is “Coming Soon” in January 2026.
It says at the bottom of the page that the site was “Designed in DC by The National Design Studio,” the new government website design hub that Trump created by executive order in August, which is being led by Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia.
Associated Press writers Tom Murphy and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
By Lori Solomon HealthDay ReporterTHURSDAY, Oct. 2, 2025 (HealthDay News) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Tremfya (guselkumab) for the treatment of plaque psoriasis and active psoriatic arthritis in children 6 years of age and older.
The approval is for pediatric patients living with either moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy, or active psoriatic arthritis. This approval expands indications of use beyond the initial adult population and is the first and only pediatric approval for an interleukin-23 inhibitor.
The approval is based on results from the phase 3 PROTOSTAR study in which the coprimary end points of Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) 90 and Investigator’s Global Assessment (IGA) score of 0/1 were achieved at week 16. More than half of patients (56 percent) receiving Tremfya achieved PASI 90 versus 16 percent of patients receiving placebo. For IGA score, at week 16, two-thirds (66 percent) of patients receiving Tremfya achieved high levels of skin clearance (score 0/1) versus 16 percent of patients receiving placebo. Complete clearance (IGA 0) at week 16 was achieved by nearly 40 percent of pediatric patients receiving Tremfya versus 4 percent on placebo.
“Despite advancements in the treatment of pediatric plaque psoriasis and active psoriatic arthritis, there continues to be a significant gap in available therapies for these debilitating immune-mediated diseases that impact a child’s physical and emotional well-being during critical years,” study investigator Vimal Hasmukh Prajapati, M.D., from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, said in a statement. “The approval of Tremfya offers physicians, as well as parents and care partners, an established treatment option with proven safety and demonstrated efficacy that can significantly improve the signs and symptoms in children living with these diseases.”
Approval of Tremfya was granted to Johnson & Johnson.
WASHINGTON — Drugmaker Pfizer has agreed to lower drug costs under a deal struck with the Trump administration, President Donald Trump said Tuesday, as he promised similar deals will be struck with other drugmakers facing a threat of tariffs.
The announcement, which Trump made with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla at the White House, came as the Republican president has for months sought to lower drug costs. It also came as Washington faced a federal government shutdown at midnight amid a standoff between Democrats and Republicans over health care and its costs.
Under the agreement, New York-based Pfizer will charge most-favored-nation pricing to Medicaid and guarantee that pricing on newly launched drugs, Trump said. That involves matching the lowest price offered in other developed nations.
“I can’t tell you how big this is,” the president said.
“I think,” Bourla said, “today we are turning the tide and we are reversing an unfair situation.”
Trump has been talking for months about the need to lower drug prices. In May, he issued an executive order that gave drugmakers 30 days to electively lower prices or face new limits on what the government will pay.
To persuade them to strike deals, Trump said he threatened to impose tariffs — a favorite tool of his to use as leverage across all areas of government — but that move could raise drug prices.
It’s unclear how the new policy will affect patients in Medicaid, the state and federally funded program for people with low incomes. They often pay a nominal co-payment of a few dollars to fill their prescriptions, but lower prices could help state budgets that fund the programs.
Lower drug prices also will help patients who have no insurance coverage and little leverage to negotiate better deals on what they pay.
“This is something that most people said was not doable,” Trump said Tuesday.
One thing that is not doable, however, was Trump’s repeated claim that it would cut drug prices by more than 100%, “14, 15, 1,600% reductions in some cases,” he said.
A 100% reduction would make the drugs free. Cuts greater than that would essentially mean people are paid to take the drugs.
Trump said he’s making deals with other drugmakers, and “they’re all coming in over the next week.”
Besides committing to lowering costs, Trump said, Pfizer agreed to spend $70 billion in domestic manufacturing facilities, becoming the latest in a string of major drugmakers to announce plans to build production in the United States.
The White House did not immediately release details about the investment, but Trump for months has spoken of a need to boost U.S. drug manufacturing.
Pfizer Inc. is one of the largest U.S. drugmakers. It produces the COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty and the treatment Paxlovid. Its products also include several cancer drugs, the blood thinner Eliquis and the pneumonia vaccine Prevnar.
Trump sent letters in late July to executives at 17 pharmaceutical companies about changes he would like to see. Copies of the letters posted on social media note that U.S. prices for brand-name drugs can be up to three times higher than averages elsewhere.
The letters called for drugmakers to commit by Monday to offering what Pfizer agreed to: most-favored-nation pricing to Medicaid and new medications.
Trump also asked drugmakers to offer the lower pricing levels for drugs sold directly to consumers and businesses.
Trump has claimed that the U.S., with its higher drug prices, subsidizes care in other countries.
Drugmakers in the past couple of years have started launching websites to connect customers directly with some products like Lilly’s obesity treatment Zepbound or the blood thinner Eliquis from Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb. That comes as patients have grown more comfortable with receiving care virtually after the practice exploded in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic.
Drug prices for patients in the U.S. can depend on a number of factors, including the competition a treatment faces and insurance coverage. Most people have coverage through work, the individual insurance market or government programs like Medicaid and Medicare that shields them from much of the cost.
While Trump was focusing on drug costs on Tuesday, Democrats were focused on reversing Medicaid cuts in the sweeping law he signed this summer.
They were pushing for that reversal to be included in a measure to fund the government in the short term, along with an extension of tax cuts that make health insurance premiums more affordable for people who purchase coverage through Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
WASHINGTON — Naturepedic, a mattress and furniture company based outside Cleveland, has been planning to introduce an upscale upholstered headboard late this year or early in 2026.
But President Donald Trump has thrown those plans into disarray. On Thursday night, the president announced on social media that he was slapping a 30% tax on imported upholstered furniture. Naturepedic ships its headboards in from India and Vietnam.
So what is the company to do?
“Do we continue forth … and hope for the best?’’ asked Arin Schultz, Naturepedic’s chief growth officer. “Or do we feel like we’re priced out and drop it altogether?’’ And if Naturepedic decides to continue with the rollout, “do we eat the cost or pass it on’’ to customers?
Across the United States, lots of executives were asking themselves similar questions as they came to work Friday morning.
Upholstered furniture, after all, wasn’t the only import in Trump’s crosshairs Thursday night. In addition, the president posted on his Truth Social platform, he’s plastering import taxes – tariffs – of 100% on pharmaceutical drugs, 50% on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities and 25% on heavy trucks.
And he’s not waiting around to do it. The tariffs, he said, would take effect Wednesday.
Trump also raised eyebrows by justifying the levy on vanities and sofas as necessary for national security. “It’s hard to see how a kitchen cabinet industry is essential to winning the next war,’’ said Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Thursday’s social media barrage was j ust the latest in Trump’s push to upend American trade policy, which for decades pushed for lower trade barriers around the world.
In place of an open market, Trump has built a tariff wall around the U.S. economy, slapping double-digit taxes on imports from almost every country on earth and targeting products (steel, aluminum, autos) with specific taxes of their own.
Trump says the tariffs will protect U.S. industries from foreign competition, encourage companies to bring production to the United States and raise money for the U.S. Treasury.
They certainly have become a moneymaker for the federal government. Since fiscal year 2025 began last Oct. 1, the U.S. Treasury has collected $172 billion in customs duties, up by $96 billion (or 126%) from the same period in fiscal 2024. Still, tariffs account for less than 4% of federal revenue.
Businesses, lawyers and trade analysts are still wondering what to make of Trump’s Thursday night tariffs. “We’ve only seen the President’s Truth Social posts,” said Dan McCarthy, principal in McCarthy Consulting and a former official with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in the Biden administration. “We need to see the details.’’
For example, Naturepedic isn’t sure whether the 30% levy on upholstered furniture will be stacked atop a separate and earlier 50% tariff on goods from India.
Here’s what we know so far:
The president has been threatening tariffs of 200% or more on pharmaceuticals. “It’s to force Big Pharma to move jobs and put new factories into the U.S,’’ said Barry Appleton, a senior fellow at the Center for International Law at New York Law School. “So it’s industrial policy.”
In recent decades, drugmakers have moved many operations overseas – to take advantage of lower costs in China and India and tax breaks in Ireland and Switzerland.
The COVID-19 experience – when countries were desperate to hang onto their own medicine and medical supplies — underscored the dangers of relying on foreign countries in a crisis, especially when a key supplier is America’s geopolitical rival China.
The stock prices of pharmaceutical companies actually rose after Trump’s announcement Thursday night. The 100% tariff was lower than it might have been. And Trump said the tariffs would not apply to companies “breaking ground” or being “under construction.”
Several big drugmakers like Merck & Co. Inc., Eli Lilly and Co. and Johnson & Johnson have already announced U.S. expansion plans.
In his tariff announcement, Trump did not mention generic drugs, which account for the vast majority of U.S. prescriptions.
Still, analysts warn, the tariffs are likely to mean higher prices. “The people who are punished the most are Americans who need the drugs so badly, especially those who don’t have full health care plans,” Appleton said. He called the tariff is a “simplistic but drastic” approach to a complicated problem. “We don’t know how it’s going to go, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to do well for consumers,” he said.
The tariffs on kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and upholstered furniture come as the White House is investigating whether imports of lumber and other wood products pose a threat to U.S. national security. A report on that investigation is due Nov. 26 and could mean more and broader tariffs.
The levies are likely to hurt big furniture exporters China and Vietnam.
But they’re also likely to drive up the cost of new homes and apartments and of do-it-yourself redecorating projects.
Homeowners are already scaling back due to high costs and a shaky economy. According to the Labor Department, the price of living room, kitchen and dining room furniture has risen nearly 10% over the past year.
“Adding significant costs to furniture, cabinets, vanities and building materials will make the American dream of owning a home significantly more expensive,” said Jonathan Gold, the National Retail Federation’s vice president of supply chain and customs policy. “The speed at which these tariff announcements are made and implemented continues to wreak havoc on retail supply chains. The uncertainty makes it difficult for retailers to properly plan and mitigate the impact of tariffs.”
Charles Clevenger, a supply chain specialist at the consultancy UHY, said tariffs on pharmaceuticals make sense because so much production has shifted away from the United States to Europe and Asia. Likewise, North Carolina and other states in the American South have also lost furniture factories to cheaper competitors in the China.
But he was surprised by the tariffs on heavy trucks because “we do have a rather robust industry’’ – with manufacturers like Paccar (parent company of Peterbilt and Kenworth).
But Appleton at New York Law School suspects the tariff is aimed at Mexico, where many heavy trucks are made. The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal negotiated in Trump’s first term, is coming up for negotiation. “I don’t think that (the tariff) was done by accident, Appleton said. “They wanted to put some more pressure onto the Mexicans” to make concessions in the talks.
Using Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, Trump had launched investigations into whether imports of pharmaceuticals, lumber and heavy trucks posed a threat to U.S. national security.
He’d justified his broader tariffs another way: by declaring national emergencies under a 1977 law. But two courts have ruled that Trump overstepped his authority by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose import taxes. The Supreme Court is hearing the case on appeal.
Robert Lawrence, a professor of International trade and investment at Harvard University, said that using Section 232 gives the president a Plan B if the courts strike down his IEEPA tariffs. “He now has insurance and shows that he’s going to be able to get away with raising tariffs, even if he loses that case.”
But Ted Murphy, co-leader of the trade practice at the Sidley Austin law firm, said: “It’s hard to discern much of a plan … What the administration does is they identify a problem and then the solution is a big tariff. The question is whether that’s really as nuanced or strategic as it could be. There could be a strategy but it’s hard to discern from a tweet.’’
___
Anderson reported from New York.
AP Health Writer Tom Murphy contributed to this story.
Shares of some big drugmakers jumped ahead of broader indexes Friday as Wall Street started sorting out President Donald Trump’s latest tariff announcement.
The president said late Thursday that he would place 100% import taxes on pharmaceuticals starting Oct. 1, but those tariffs would not apply to companies building U.S. manufacturing plants. He defined that as either “breaking ground” or being “under construction.”
Several big drugmakers like Merck & Co. Inc., Eli Lilly and Co. and Johnson & Johnson have announced U.S. expansion plans.
Trump has talked about pharmaceutical tariffs for months, but he has said he would delay them for a year or a year and a half to give companies time to stockpile medicines here and shift manufacturing.
Analysts have said companies started stockpiling medicines in the U.S. earlier this year.
Jefferies analyst Akash Tewari said in a research note that Thursday’s announcement shouldn’t have a material impact on the big drugmakers, given their construction plans.
Brand-name drug companies also have fat profit margins that can provide some flexibility to make investments and absorb tariff costs. Manufacturers of cheaper generic drugs — which account for most U.S. prescriptions — do not. Researchers and patient advocates have worried about the impact of any tariffs on those companies.
David Risinger of Leerink Partners said smaller drugmakers also may be vulnerable to the new taxes, although he noted that it was hard to predict which ones.
He said several questions remain unanswered after Thursday’s announcement. Those include whether the action will survive legal challenges and how the phrases “breaking ground” and “under construction” are defined for tariff enforcement.
Risinger also questioned whether the new taxes might be a negotiating tactic tied to an investigation the administration launched in the spring over how importing drugs and their ingredients affects national security.
Shares of Merck and Lilly both climbed more than 1% Friday morning, while J&J’s stock rose slightly. The S&P 500 also edged slightly higher.
But Trump’s grandiose claim is mathematically impossible.
Here’s a closer look at the facts.
TRUMP: “You know, we’ve cut drug prices by 1,200, 1,300, 1,400, 1,500%. I don’t mean 50%, I mean 14 — 1,500%.”
THE FACTS: This is false. Cutting drug prices by more than 100% would theoretically mean that people are being paid to take medications. The Trump administration has taken steps to lower prescription drug prices, but experts say there’s no indication costs have seen such a massive drop.
Geoffrey Joyce, director of health policy at the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center, called Trump’s claim “total fiction” made up by the Republican president. He agreed that it would amount to drug companies paying customers, rather than the other way around.
“I find it really difficult to translate those numbers into some actual estimates that patients would see at the pharmacy counter,” said Mariana Socal, an associate professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins University who studies the U.S. pharmaceutical market. She added that Trump’s math is “really hard to follow.”
Asked what Trump was using to back up his claim, White House spokesman Kush Desai said: “It’s an objective fact that Americans are paying exponentially more for the same exact drugs as people in other developed countries pay, and it’s an objective fact that no other Administration has done more to rectify this unfair burden for the American people.”
The White House provided a chart of price differentials for drugs in the U.S. and comparable countries, but did not offer any other evidence. On Sunday, Trump also described cuts to drug prices as a future development, not that already happened.
“So we’ll be dropping drug prices,” he said. “It will start over the next two to three months by 1,200, 1,300 and even 1,400%.”
Prices for most prescription drugs — unbranded generics are the exception — are higher in the U.S. than they are in other high-income countries. This is in large part due to the way drug prices are negotiated in the United States.
Trump made his recent appeal in letters to 17 pharmaceutical manufacturers, the White House announced last week. He asked them to reduce costs in the U.S. by matching the lowest prices of prescriptions drugs in other comparably developed countries. Some drugmakers have since indicated that they are open to cutting costs.
This move follows an executive order Trump signed in May setting a 30-day deadline for drugmakers to electively lower prices in the U.S. or face new limits in the future over what the government will pay.
The federal government has the most power to shape the price it pays for drugs covered by Medicare and Medicaid. It’s unclear what — if any — impact the Trump administration’s efforts will have on millions of Americans who have private health insurance.
Socal pointed out that if drug manufacturers had cut costs to the extent Trump claims, they would be shouting it from the rooftops, especially given the heat they’ve taken over the years for their pricing practices.
“My expectation would be that they would make announcements — public announcements — and that those announcements would come way in advance of the actual effective dates when those price cuts would come into effect,” she said.
Joyce agreed that there has been no indication of a substantial cut.
“Not at all, not at all, none whatsoever,” he said. “And let alone 1,500.”
State-level marijuana legalization is associated with declines in prescription drug spending, according to data published last week in the journal Health Economics.
Researchers affiliated with Bowling Green State University in Ohio and Illinois State University assessed the impact of marijuana legalization laws on prescription drug expenditures among privately insured working-age adults.
They identified pronounced declines in prescription drug expenditures among enrollees of small group insurance plans (plans typically sold to employers with fewer than 50 employees).
“We find that net prescription drug claims in small group insurance markets are reduced by approximately six percent following recreational cannabis legalization,” they determined. “The reduction in claims in the small group market grows stronger in magnitude over time and gains statistical significance during the second full year of legalized cannabis.”
Investigators did not identify a similar reduction among enrollees in large group insurance plans. Researchers speculated that this null result could be because larger companies typically impose mandatory marijuana testing among their employees.
“Recreational cannabis laws result in significant relative declines in prescription drug claims that are concentrated in small group insurance markets,” the study’s authors concluded. “The legalization of cannabis offers a potential substitute to traditional prescription drugs and alternative methods for health maintenance.”
Commenting on the data, NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: “Cannabis has established efficacy in the treatment of multiple conditions, including chronic pain, and it possesses a safety profile that is either comparable or superior to many prescription medicines, like opioids. As legal access continues to expand, one would expect more patients to integrate cannabis products into their wellness strategies in a manner that reduces their overall disease burden as well as their reliance on traditional prescription medications.”
The full text of the study, “The effects of medical and recreational cannabis laws on prescription drug claims in commercial group insurance markets,” appears in Health Economics. Additional information on prescription drug substitution is available from the NORML Fact Sheet, ‘Relationship Between Marijuana and Opioids.’
CVS pharmacy clerks and technicians are entering their fourth day of a strike Monday after walking off the job and onto picket lines at four locations in Los Angeles and another three in Orange County as their union pushes for a new contract and alleges unlawful labor practices.
Meanwhile, store officials insist they are negotiating in good faith and have already reached tentative deals with the union on several key issues.
CVS Pharmacy workers, represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 in Southern California, declared a strike at 7 a.m. Friday and began picketing. The union represents nearly 7,000 CVS workers, and its members last month voted to authorize a strike.
Workers are picketing at the following locations:
— 1701 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles
— 4707 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles
— 1843 S. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles
— 5985 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles
— 3401 Katella Ave., Los Alamitos
— 270 W Lincoln Ave., Anaheim
— 7065 La Palma Ave., Buena Park
CVS officials told City News Service that the stores “remain open and are serving customers and patients.”
“We’re disappointed that our UFCW member colleagues have gone on strike at seven locations in the Los Angeles area. We’ve had more than a dozen good faith negotiating sessions with the UFCW over the last several months, including six since the contract expired in June,” the company said in a statement provided to CNS on Sunday.
“Over the course of these discussions, we’ve made progress on finalizing a contract and have already reached tentative agreements that will increase the rate of pay for store associates, with additional increases for colleagues with 5+ years of service and colleagues with 10+ years of service. In addition, we’ve agreed not to reduce any benefit they currently have and offered to increase the amount of money CVS Health contributes toward the cost of health insurance for those enrolled in company-sponsored health insurance.
“There’s more to do, but we’re committed to working together. We look forward to reconvening with UFCW to continue negotiations and hope to finalize an agreement soon.”
Union leaders say they are protesting what they call unlawful activities that have interfered with bargaining and prevented employees from reaching a fair deal. UFCW officials allege CVS has engaged in illegal surveillance of workers, retaliation for union activities and prohibiting workers from engaging in union activities. The allegations came amid continuing labor talks for a new contract to replace one that expired in June.
According to the union, the average CVS clerk makes less than $20 an hour and can’t afford to buy insurance from CVS, a health insurance company. Pharmacy technicians, who are required to complete an extensive CVS Pharmacy Technician Training Program as well as satisfy all registration, licensing and state certification requirements, currently make only $24.90 an hour after five years, union officials said.
Roughly 3,500 Rite Aid workers in California have also voted to authorize a strike, and they could soon form their own picket lines if negotiations fail to produce a new contract.
Thinner benefits and coverage changes await many older Americans shopping for health insurance this fall. That’s if their plan is even still available in 2025.
More than a million people will probably have to find new coverage as major insurers cut costs and pull back from markets for Medicare Advantage plans, the privately run version of the federal government’s coverage program mostly for people ages 65 and older.
Industry experts also predict some price increases for Medicare prescription drug plans as required coverage improvements kick in.
“This could be bad news for Vice President Harris. If that premium is going up, that’s a very obvious sign that you’re paying more,” said Massey Whorley, an analyst for health care consulting company Avalere. “That has significant implications for how they’re viewing the performance of the current administration.”
Insurance agents say the distraction of the election adds another complication to an already challenging annual enrollment window that starts next month.
Insurers are pulling back from Medicare Advantage
Medicare Advantage plans will cover more than 35 million people next year, or around half of all people enrolled in Medicare, according to the federal government. Insurance agents say they expect more people than usual will have to find new coverage for 2025 because their insurer has either ended a plan or left their market.
The health insurer Humana expects more than half a million customers — about 10% of its total — to be affected as it pulls Medicare Advantage plans from places around the country. Many customers will be able to transfer to other Humana plans, but company leaders still anticipate losing a few hundred thousand customers.
CVS Health’s Aetna projects a similar loss, and other big insurers have said they are leaving several states.
Insurers say rising costs and care use, along with reimbursement cuts from the government, are forcing them to pull back.
Some people can expect a tough search
When insurers leave Medicare Advantage markets, they tend to stop selling plans that have lower quality ratings and those with a higher proportion of Black buyers, said Dr. Amal Trivedi, a Brown University public health researcher.
He noted that market exits can be particularly hard on people with several doctors and on patients with cognitive trouble like dementia.
Most markets will still have dozens of plan choices. But finding a new option involves understanding out-of-pocket costs for each choice, plus figuring out how physicians and regular prescriptions are covered.
“People don’t like change when it comes to health insurance because you don’t know what’s on the other side of the fence,” said Tricia Neuman, a Medicare expert at KFF, a nonprofit that researches health care.
Plans that don’t leave markets may raise deductibles and trim perks like cards used to pay for utilities or food.
Those proved popular in recent years as inflation rose, said Danielle Roberts, co-founder of the Fort Worth, Texas, insurance agency Boomer Benefits.
“It’s really difficult for a person on a fixed income to choose a health plan for the right reasons … when $900 on a flex card in free groceries sounds pretty good,” she said.
Don’t “sleep” on picking a Medicare plan
Prices also could rise for some so-called standalone Part D prescription drug plans, which people pair with traditional Medicare coverage. KFF says that population includes more than 13 million people.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Friday that premiums for these plans will decrease about 4% on average to $40 next year.
But brokers and agents say premiums can vary widely, and they still expect some increases. They also expect fewer plan choices and changes to formularies, or lists of covered drugs. Roberts said she has already seen premium hikes of $30 or more from some plans for next year.
Any price shift will hit a customer base known to switch plans for premium changes as small as $1, said Fran Soistman, CEO of the online insurance marketplace eHealth.
The changes come as a congressional-approved coverage overhaul takes hold. Most notably, out-of-pocket drug costs will be capped at $2,000 for those on Medicare, an effort championed by Democrats and President Joe Biden in 2022.
In the long run, these changes will lead to a “much richer benefit,” Whorley said.
KFF’s Neuman noted that the cap on drug costs will be especially helpful to cancer patients and others with expensive prescriptions. She estimates about 1.5 million people will benefit.
To ward off big premium spikes because of the changes, the Biden administration will pull billions of dollars from the Medicare trust fund to pay insurers to keep premium prices down, a move some Republicans have criticized. Insurers will not be allowed to raise premium prices beyond $35 next year.
People will be able to sign up for 2025 coverage between Oct. 15 and Dec. 7. Experts say all the potential changes make it important for shoppers to study closely any new choices or coverage they expect to renew.
“This is not a year to sleep on it, just re-enroll in the status quo,” said Whorley, the health care analyst.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Coco loved being the life of the party — cracking jokes, doing pranks and making people laugh, her mom, Julianna Arnold, recalled recently.
“Her favorite pastime was fashion,” Arnold said. “She didn’t like looking at magazines or going to fancy stores, but preferred to make her own creations from used clothing she would find at thrift stores…. And they always looked fabulous on her.”
In 2022, two weeks after she turned 17, Coco left home just outside New York City to meet with a dealer she’d messaged through Instagram who promised to sell her Percocet. She never made it home. She was found dead the next day, two blocks from the address that the guy had provided her.
Whatever the dealer gave Coco, her mother said, was not Percocet. It was a fake pill laced with fentanyl, which can be lethal in a dose as small as the tip of a pencil.
Fentanyl overdoses have become a leading cause of death for minors in the last five years or so, even as overall drug use has dropped slightly. In a 2022 analysis of fentanyl-laced prescription pills, the DEA found that six out of 10 contained a potentially lethal dose of the drug.
And social media, where tainted, fake prescription drugs can be obtained with just a few clicks, is a big part of the problem. Experts, law enforcement and children’s advocates say companies like Snap, TikTok, Telegram and Meta Platforms, which owns Instagram, are not doing enough to keep children safe.
A few taps away
The stories of these victims often play out similarly: The kids hear you can get pills on social media. A few taps later and then a package arrives. They retreat to the sanctity of their bedroom and take a pill. Fifteen minutes later, they’re dead. No one even knows until the next morning.
Paul DelPonte, executive director and CEO of the National Crime Prevention Council, likened this crisis to a Johnson & Johnson incident in 1982 when seven people died due to Tylenol bottles that had been tampered with. In that case, J&J recalled all bottles and stopped production until they discovered the source of the problem.
“As a result, we now have tamper-resistant caps on over-the-counter medicines and in other products. That’s corporate responsibility,” he said. “For years, social media companies have known this has been happening, yet they continue to operate their platforms without any significant changes.”
While data on the prevalence of drug sales on social platforms is hard to come by, the National Crime Prevention Council estimates 80% of teen and young adult fentanyl poisoning deaths can be traced to some social media contact.
In a sweeping 2023 report on the problem, Colorado’s attorney general called the availability of fentanyl and other illicit substances online “staggering.”
“Due to their ubiquity, convenience, and lack of regulation, social media platforms have become a major venue for drug distribution,” the report said. “Where once a teen might have had to seek out a street dealer, hassle friends, or learn to navigate the dark web to access illicit drugs, young people can now locate drug dealers using their smartphones — with the relative ease of ordering food delivery or calling a ride-share service.”
Accidental overdoses in the U.S. have decreased slightly each year since 2021 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. DelPonte attributes this in part to more education and awareness about the issue. Among young people ages 0 to 19, there were 1,622 overdose deaths in 2021, then 1,590 in 2022, and 1,511 last year.
The decline, DelPonte said, is “very small.”
A decade ago, people looking to buy illicit drugs online would visit the dark web. But this was quickly eclipsed by social media and messaging platforms’ rise. Using popular social media sites, encrypted chats, legitimate payment and shipping services, dealers moved into the light. Social platforms say they are constantly working to address the issue, while law enforcement has made some inroads.
Last May, for instance, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s “Operation Last Mile,” targeting Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco Cartels, led to 3,337 arrests and the seizure of nearly 44 million fentanyl pills and other deadly drugs. More than 1,100 associated cases involved social media apps and encrypted communications platforms, the DEA said.
On Instagram, as recently as this summer, a simple hashtag search for popular prescription drugs brought up numerous results with accounts offering to sell illicit pills to anyone looking. Many accounts directed users to Snapchat or Telegram, where experts say encryption and alleged lax moderation make it even easier to engage in illegal activity. Money is sent through payment platforms and the drugs can be delivered by mail, DelPonte said.
Meta, for its part, has made it more difficult to search for drugs on its platform in recent weeks.
‘Never in a million years’
Mikayla Brown sits for a photo in the room of her son, Elijah, who died of a fentanyl overdose at 15, in Atascadero, Calif., Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, as two of his skateboards hang on the wall. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Mikayla Brown lost her son Elijah, who went by Eli, to a suspected fentanyl overdose in 2023, two weeks after his 15th birthday. Eli loved skateboarding, video games and cooking. His favorite was spicy Cajun pasta his mom made and he just started to get into cooking himself.
Eli began experimenting with marijuana in high school and he was going through what seemed like a phase many teenagers go through, his mom said. The family decided he’d go live with his biological father about three hours away in Woodland Hills in Los Angeles, to try to get a handle on what Brown called Eli’s “rebellion era.”
Brown said the family “never in a million years” would have thought he was getting into anything more dangerous than that. There was one exception, about a year before he passed away, his mom found him acting funny and he admitted to having taken Xanax, a prescription anti-anxiety drug.
On a September evening last year, Eli arrived home from a friend’s house, had dinner with his dad and stayed up late to watch a movie.
His father sent him to bed around “2 a.m., I guess,” Brown said. “And then when his alarm went off in the morning to wake up Eli for school he found him in his room…”
Eli was unresponsive. His cause of death was accidental fentanyl overdose. But he wasn’t trying to buy fentanyl, he was looking for Xanax, and, like Coco, ended up with tainted pills that killed him.
A framed photo of Elijah Ott, who died of a fentanyl overdose at 15, stands next to a vase of flowers as his mother, Mikayla Brown, works in the kitchen in Atascadero, Calif., Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
With his stepson’s name tattooed below his ear, Tyler Brown, stepfather of Elijah Ott, who died of a fentanyl overdose at 15, looks at a park bench dedicated to Elijah in Paso Robles, Calif., Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Until recently, a search for #Xanax on Instagram led to a warning page specifying that “This may be associated with the sale of drugs” and that the “sale, purchase of trade of illicit drugs can cause harm to yourself and others and is illegal in most countries.” A blue “Get help” link directed users to federal substance abuse resources. Underneath that link, users could click to “see results anyway.” After it was pointed out by the AP, the company quickly removed the ability to “see results anyway” for location-specific hashtags such as #xanaxdallas or #xanaxchicago. Later, it also removed the “see results” option entirely for common drugs such as Xanax, cocaine and Adderall, among others.
Meta also said it investigated accounts shared by The Associated Press and concluded they were not drug dealers, but financial scam artists based in Africa pretending to sell drugs locally.
Meta says it blocks and filters “hundreds” of terms associated with illicit drug sales and links to recovery and substance abuse resources when possible. But drug dealers and other bad actors constantly shift their strategies, coming up with fresh ways to avoid detection.
David Decary-Hetu, a professor at the School of Criminology at the University of Montreal, said Meta, in particular, has been “quite effective” in targeting people who sell drugs on its social platforms. But, he added, “it doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen.”
In a statement, Meta said drug dealers “are criminals who stop at nothing to sell their dangerous products. This is a challenge that spans across platforms, industries, and communities, and it requires all of us working together to address it.”
The company added that it works with law enforcement and proactively took down 2 million pieces of content, 99.7% before they were reported in the first three months of 2024.
“Our hearts go out to the families suffering at the hands of these criminals and we are committed to working with others to prevent these tragedies,” Meta added.
Mikayla Brown, left, comforts her son, Jax, as they stand in front of a park bench dedicated to her son, Elijah Ott, who died of a fentanyl overdose at 15, in Paso Robles, Calif., Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A persistent problem
Coco’s mother had many discussions with her daughter about being careful online.
The teen was in therapy — social media really affected her and she developed anxiety and depression, Arnold said. She frequently checked Coco’s social media and limited her time on Snapchat to 15 minutes per day.
“She knew about a lot of this stuff. We had talked about it. But then when this came up on Instagram, you know, I wasn’t checking and I couldn’t check all of her direct messages. It’s hard to know as a parent, no matter how on top of it you are,” she said.
Coco’s death is still under investigation, Arnold said.
Arnold said it took five months to remove the dealer’s profile from Instagram. Occasionally, she checks to see if he’s there under another name.
“I typed in something that I thought maybe could work, you know, based on what his previous handle had been. And there he was. He was back up under a different a different handle,” she said. “But I recognized his photo and I reported it to the police. And now again, it’s taking months to get it taken down.”
Experts often single out Snapchat as a particularly dangerous platform, something the company vehemently disagrees with. In October 2022, a group of parents who say their children bought fentanyl from drug dealers they met through Snapchat sued the company for wrongful death and negligence, calling it a “haven for drug trafficking.”
“Despite Snap promoting and portraying Snapchat as a ‘goofy’ app for kids to use to send each other silly pictures, its known common use is as an ‘open-air drug market,’” the lawsuit claims. Snapchat’s role in illicit drug sales to teens, it continues, “was the foreseeable result of the designs, structures, and policies Snap chose to implement to increase its revenues.”
The vast majority of fentanyl deaths among young people, the lawsuit says, involve kids who don’t know they are ingesting fentanyl. Rather, they are buying what they believe is marijuana, MDMA or prescription drugs like OxyContin. In January, a judge ruled that the lawsuit could move to trial.
It’ll be yet another test for Section 230, a 1996 law that generally exempts internet companies from liability for material users post on their networks.
In a statement, Snap said it is “heartbroken by the fentanyl epidemic and are deeply committed to the fight against it.”
“We’ve invested in advanced technology to detect and remove illicit drug-related content, work extensively with law enforcement helping to bring dealers to justice, and continue to raise awareness and evolve our service to help keep our community safe. Criminals have no place on Snapchat,” said Jacqueline Beauchere, Global Head of Platform Safety at the company.
While Snap wouldn’t comment on the lawsuit itself, the company argues its design actually makes it more difficult for bad actors to operate. For instance, the company says, it doesn’t allow people to get messages from people they haven’t added as friends or have a phone contact, and location sharing is off by default.
Regulatory remedies?
Advocates are hoping that regulation of tech companies could help address the problem, as it might help with other dangers kids face on social media. In July, the Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act, legislation designed to protect children from dangerous online content. It still awaits a vote in the House. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., meanwhile, introduced a bill that would require social media companies to report illicit fentanyl, methamphetamine and fake pill activity occurring on their platforms to law enforcement.
“We must do more at the federal level to combat the flow of fentanyl into our communities, and it starts by holding social media companies accountable for their part in facilitating illicit drug sales,” Shaheen said.
But for parents like Arnold, Brown and others who already lost their children to overdoses, it is too late.
“Social media companies have the ability to make their platforms drug-free zones,” DelPonte said. “Instead, they keep evading the meaningful changes to keep the public safe.”
The Democratic presidential nominee laid out plans including a proposal for a federal ban on what she called price gouging on groceries, as well as $25,000 in down payment help for certain first-time homebuyers and tax incentives for builders of starter homes. She also spoke at length about lowering drug costs and criticized the platform of her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump.
Here’s a closer look at some of her promises and claims.
The impact of Trump’s proposed tariffs
HARRIS: Trump “wants to impose what is in effect, a national sales tax on everyday products and basic necessities that we import from other countries. … And you know, economists have done the math. Donald Trump’s plan would cost a typical family $3,900 a year.”
THE FACTS: Harris was referring to Trump’s proposal to impose a tariff of 10% to 20% on all imports — he has mentioned both figures — and up to 60% on imports from China.
Most economists do expect it would raise prices on many goods. The Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, estimates it would reduce average incomes in the top 60% of earners by 1.8%. And the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a progressive advocacy group, has calculated that the higher tariffs would cost households an extra $3,900 a year. However, Trump has said the tariff revenue could be used to cut other taxes, which would reduce the overall cost of the policy.
Lowering the cost of insulin and prescription drugs
HARRIS: “I’ll lower the cost of insulin and prescription drugs for everyone.”
THE FACTS: Harris made this promise while referencing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which allows Medicare to negotiate medication costs directly with drug companies. While it is difficult to predict whether she will be able to keep it, especially without more details, recent policy can provide some clues.
For example, the White House announced Thursday that it had inked deals with manufacturers that could save taxpayers billions of dollars by knocking down the list prices for 10 of Medicare’s costliest drugs. However, there are a number of factors — from discounts to the coinsurance or copays for the person’s Medicare drug plan — that determine the final price a person pays when they pick up the drugs at their pharmacy.
Powerful drug companies unsuccessfully tried to file lawsuits to stop these negotiations. They ended up engaging in talks and executives hinted in recent weeks during earnings calls that they don’t expect the new Medicare drug prices to impact their bottom line. However, the manufacturers have warned that the Inflation Reduction Act could drive up prices for consumers in other areas.
Both the Trump and Biden administrations achieved $35 insulin copay caps for certain Medicare recipients. Biden’s caps have a wider reach, as they apply to all insulin products covered by any Medicare Part D or Part B plan, according to health policy research nonprofit KFF. Trump’s applied only to some insulin products covered by a voluntary subset of Part D plans.
A federal ban on grocery ‘price gouging’
HARRIS: “As president, I will take on the high costs that matter most to most Americans. … And I will work to pass the first ever federal ban on price gouging on food.”
What to know about the 2024 Election
THE FACTS: While grocery prices are 25% higher than they were before the pandemic four-and-a-half years ago, they have settled down recently and it’s not clear that much price gouging is now going on.
In the past 12 months, grocery prices on average are up just 1.1%, comparable to pre-pandemic increases. Also, prices for most goods and services, in general, don’t fall significantly except in steep, painful recessions. Instead, most economists expect that wages will rise enough so that Americans can adjust to higher costs. Still, prices remain higher overall than they were just a couple of years ago.
Addressing housing shortages and helping home buyers
HARRIS: “And by the end of my first term, we will end America’s housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals. … While we work on the housing shortage, my administration will provide first time homebuyers with $25,000 to help with the down payment on a new home.”
THE FACTS: These promises could end up working at cross-purposes. By helping more Americans afford homes, the Harris proposal to subsidize down payments would almost certainly increase demand, at a time when estimates of the U.S. housing shortage already range from 3 million to as high as 7 million.
Harris’ proposal to provide tax incentives to builders to encourage more home and apartment construction would address that concern, but there are many reasons experts cite for the housing shortage, including restrictive zoning laws, higher costs for building materials, and even shortages of construction workers, which tax incentives can’t address.
Harris is also promising to cut red tape that restricts new building, but that is mostly a state and local concern, and many localities are already moving to make it easier build homes.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Forced labor, same-sex marriage and shoplifting are among the 10 statewide ballot measures that California voters are set to consider in November.
The California secretary of state assigned proposition numbers to the measures on Wednesday after the Legislature added two more bond proposals to the ballot.
Here’s a look at what voters will decide in November:
This asks voters for permission to borrow $10 billion for public school construction and repairs. Most of the money, $8.5 billion, would go to elementary and secondary schools. The rest, or $1.5 billion, would go to community colleges. No money would be available for the California State University or University of California systems.
This would remove the ban on same-sex marriage from the California Constitution. Voters added that ban to the constitution in 2008. But the U.S. Supreme Court has prevented California from enforcing the ban since 2013. Still, the language banning same-sex marriage remains in the state constitution. The proposed amendment would remove the ban and replace it with language saying, “The right to marry is a fundamental right.”
This asks voters for permission to borrow $10 billion for various climate programs. The largest chunk of the money, $3.8 billion, would help pay to improve drinking water systems and prepare for droughts and floods. Programs preparing for wildfires would receive $1.5 billion while programs combating sea level rise would get $1.2 billion.
The rest would be divided up among parks and outdoor recreation programs, clean air initiatives and programs preparing for extreme heat, protecting biodiversity and helping make farms and ranches sustainable.
This would change the state constitution to make it easier for local governments to borrow money, provided they use the funds to build affordable housing or public infrastructure. Local governments, excluding school districts, currently can borrow money only if two-thirds of voters approve.
This would lower that threshold to 55% for affordable housing and public infrastructure projects. Public infrastructure includes water and sewer systems, public transportation, libraries, broadband internet and hospitals.
This would change the California Constitution to ban forced labor in any form. The constitution currently bans involuntary servitude, or forced labor, except as a punishment for crime. That exemption has become a target of criminal justice advocates concerned about prison labor conditions. It is not uncommon for people who are incarcerated to be put to work earning less than $1 an hour.
This eventually would increase California’s minimum wage to $18 per hour. It is currently $16 per hour for most people and $20 per hour for fast food workers. Health care workers will eventually see their minimum wage reach $25 per hour, according to a law that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last year.
This would repeal a state law prohibiting cities and counties from capping rents on single-family homes, condominiums and apartments built after 1995. Supporters say the proposal would help prevent homelessness.
Similar measures failed in 2018 and 2020 amid fierce opposition led by landlord groups and the real-estate industry. Opponents argued the proposal would hurt mom-and-pop landlords and discourage the construction of affordable housing.
State lawmakers in 2019 approved a 10% statewide cap on annual rent increases. The law exempted new construction for 15 years and is set to expire in 2030. Several cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose also have local rent control policies.
This would permanently allow California’s Medicaid program to pay pharmacies directly for prescription drugs. California started doing this in 2019 after Newsom signed an executive order allowing the payments. This measure would make it a law.
The measure also would require some health care providers to spend almost all of the money they get from a federal prescription drug program directly on patient care instead of other things.
This proposition appears to be directed at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The measure has the backing of the California Apartment Association, which helped pay for an ad criticizing the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The foundation has said it is being targeted for its support for rent control.
This would make the state pay doctors more money for treating patients who are covered by Medicaid, the government-funded health insurance program for people with low incomes.
Managed care organizations contract with the state to provide these health benefits. The state taxes these organizations to help pay for the Medicaid program. This measure would require the state to use a portion of that tax money to increase how much Medicaid pays doctors.
This would make the crime of shoplifting a felony for repeat offenders and increase penalties for some drug charges, including those involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl. It also would give judges the authority to order those with multiple drug charges to get treatment.
Proponents said the initiative is necessary to close loopholes in existing laws that have made it challenging for law enforcement to punish shoplifters and drug dealers.
Opponents, including Democratic state leaders and social justice groups, said the proposal would disproportionately imprison poor people and those with substance use issues rather than target ringleaders who hire large groups of people to steal goods for them to resell online.
Have you ever grabbed a bottle of Tylenol from your medicine cabinet, discovered that it expired two years ago and wondered whether you can still take it?
You really shouldn’t, cautioned Robert Frankil, a pharmacist and executive director of the Philadelphia Association of Retail Druggists, which represents about 250 independently-owned pharmacies in Pennsylvania.
“At that expiration date, it’s expected to be 100% or nearly 100% potent, and after that expiration date, it will begin to lose its potency slowly,” Frankil said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration began requiring drug companies to put expiration dates on over-the-counter and prescription medications in 1979. Pharmaceutical companies must conduct comprehensive testing on how a drug breaks down over time and in different environments to establish a medication’s shelf life. Medications can be “less effective or risky due to a change in chemical composition or a decrease in strength” past their expiration dates, according to the FDA.
Frankil advised people not to take over-the-counter medications after their expiration dates, because the medications do not hold their “stability,” Frankil said. “They don’t become dangerous. They just become less effective after the expiration date.”
With prescription drugs, such as antidepressants, it is especially important to observe expiration dates, Frankil said.
“If you’re talking about something like depression, you want to make sure your medication is potent, so I would never mess around with a drug that’s treating a chronic ailment – if it was past its expiration date,” Frankil said.
Some research, including a 2019 systematic review of studies, has found that many medications can be used beyond their expiration dates. “It was not uncommon that the actual shelf-life exceeded the manufacturer assigned one by three- or four-fold,” the 2019 literature review concluded.
But Frankil said he, personally, would not take any medication past its expiration date.
However, he said that “… if it’s either that or nothing, and you wake up at two in the morning with a bad headache,” taking a common analgesic like Tylenol that is less than a year past its expiration date would be OK.
Frankil recommended grinding up unused, expired medications and throwing them out with the garbage, rather than flushing them down the toilet, which can pollute water and unintentionally expose people to medications. Burying medications in containers of coffee grounds before dumping them in the trash is another option. Also, some pharmacies have medication disposal packages, which also are available on Amazon.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has a locator for collection sites where people may dispose of certain drugs, such as opioids.
Pretty much everyone has heard of sleepwalking – and some of us even do it from time to time. But sleep cooking and sleep driving?
Engaging in such activities while not awake – a phenomenon known as complex sleep behaviors – can result from taking prescription insomnia medications, also commonly referred to as Z drugs. These medications include eszopiclone (Lunesta), zaleplon (Sonata) and zolpidem (Ambien, Edluar, and Zolpimist).
Z drugs can improve the quality, though not necessarily the duration, of sleep, according to research. But they can also pose serious risks by leading to bizarre complex sleep behaviors, including driving, cooking and eating while sleeping, the Food and Drug Administration warns.
The FDA has even had reports of people accidentally overdosing on other medications or shooting themselves while taking Z drugs.
Upon waking, people may or may not recall their complex sleep behaviors.
The FDA cautions that people could find themselves enacting complex sleep behaviors even on lower doses or after their first use, and that Z drugs could impair your ability to drive or operate machinery even the next morning.
The FDA recommends:
• Discussing the risks of taking a Z drug with your health-care provider • Reading the patient medication guide as soon as you fill a prescription for a Z drug • Carefully following dosing instructions from your health-care professional • Not taking Z drugs with other sleep drugs, including those available over-the-counter • Abstaining from alcohol use before and while using Z drugs since together they may be more likely to cause side effects.
Chronic pain patients say they are struggling in the face of a national shortage of prescription opioids, preventing them from getting the medicine their doctors prescribed.In some cases, the sudden inability to get their medication has sent them into withdrawal. Northern California patients in pain “I’m in a huge amount of pain right now,” John Black, of Marysville, said.Black said he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 25 years ago, but the medication he took for that led to other issues.“Prednisone caused avascular necrosis, which is a dying of the blood supply or the end of the bones, which in turn caused me to have two and now three hip replacements,” he said. “I’ve had colon cancer, fistulas, you name it.”Black said he and his doctor spent a few years trying to find a medication that would work for him to manage the pain. Eventually, he said, his doctor prescribed hydrocodone and acetaminophen tablets. However, when he went to pick up his prescription medication in November, he said his pharmacy told him that they were all out because of a national shortage.“I keep coming back day after day,” he said. “They sent me after 15 years of being on medication into withdrawals for no fault of my own.”In Tracy, veteran Ubbo Coty has been experiencing a similar struggle. His challenges began while serving in the U.S. Air Force.“I did seven deployments, four combat tours,” Coty said.In 2006, he said, he broke his right foot.“I had seven surgeries on it,” he explained.Eventually, he found that led to a new problem.“I’ve got a neuroma. So, the pain, it’s like a chronic pain problem,” Coty said.He said his doctor prescribed Norco, a combination of hydrocodone and acetaminophen, because nothing else seemed to work. Yet, lately, he said his pharmacy has been telling him his medication is on backorder.“I couldn’t walk my service dog. I couldn’t do things I normally do,” Coty said about the pain he was having to endure without his prescribed medication.Black said it made it difficult to volunteer at 93Q, a nonprofit community radio station in Marysville, where he spreads the word about events and fundraisers in the area and interviews local leaders.“All I want to be able to do is give back to the community, and this thing is not allowing me to do it,” he said.Health care professionals try to help Tracey Fremd has been a nurse practitioner for 35 years, specializing in pain management for 17 years.“In all my practice in pain management, I’ve never seen a shortage of opiates to treat my pain patients as I have in the last six months,” she said.Fremd said stopping medication like that all of a sudden instead of tapering can lead to withdrawal symptoms, like fever, chills, nausea, vomiting and confusion.“Most of them don’t require hospitalization, but in the higher doses, you’re at risk for seizure, and you’re at risk for death,” Fremd said.She is concerned for her patients, saying her staff is now spending a lot of time making calls to patients and pharmacies to figure out what medications will not have adverse affects on patients and are actually in stock at pharmacies.“That has led to approximately 30 to 40% more workload on my staff and myself in the last 2 to 3 months as it kind of has worsened,” she explained.What’s causing the shortage?In determining what factors may have led to the shortage, KCRA 3 Investigates reached out to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first.By their definition, the agency said that there was no shortage.“The FDA is not aware of a current shortage of hydrocodone. For your background, the FDA receives information provided by manufacturers regarding their ability to supply the market, as well as market sales data on the specific products, then lists drugs on its shortages website once it has confirmed that overall market demand is not being met by the manufacturers of the product. The FDA does not consider a product to be in shortage if one or more manufacturers are able to fully supply market demand for the product.”However, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) said it tracks drug shortages differently and has been looking into shortages of hydrocodone and oxycodone over the past year. You can find details on drug shortages at ASHP’s website.“We look at whether or not patients on the front lines or health care practitioners are able to procure the medication,” said Michael Ganio, the senior director of pharmacy practice and quality at ASHP.Ganio said there may be a few reasons for the current shortage of prescription opioids, starting with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which sets a limit each year on how much of the pain pills can be made. “The bad news is that toward the end of the calendar year, we think some of the shortages may have been due to those DEA quotas,” he said.Some companies may have been restricted from making more while others might not even meet their quotas because of unexpected production issues, Ganio said.Regardless, despite thousands of complaints from concerned citizens, the DEA has reduced quotas for manufacturers year after year to combat the opioid crisis.An alarming number of overdose deaths have been fueled by the misuse and abuse of pain pills, which has since sparked thousands of lawsuits against drug companies, pharmacies and distributors.Black and Coty feel like they are now caught in the middle, the unintended consequences of procedures intended to protect the public.”Don’t punish the people that really do have to take it,” Coty said.”There are people going through withdrawals that should not be, I’m talking 90-year-old women,” Black said. “It’s unconscionable.”The DEA did not respond to multiple inquiries from KCRA 3 Investigates.However, manufacturers and pharmacists said the DEA is trying something new this year, setting limits for drugmakers quarterly instead of annually.Pharmacists are hopeful that it will help the agency make adjustments throughout the year if one company is meeting its quota and another is not, but manufacturers worry that it could actually make the market more unpredictable and unstable.In the meantime, for patients dealing with drug shortages, Ganio asked people to be patient with their pharmacies.”I know it’s an extremely disruptive shortage. It’s very frustrating,” he said. “A lot of the pharmacies are understaffed, or they’re dealing with flu season, and seasonal antibiotics are being used more frequently now. So, those pharmacies are busy.”Fremd suggests people call their pharmacy a few days before refilling a prescription to find out if their medication is in stock.If it is not, then they should find out what is available and talk with their doctor about possible, safe alternatives, she said.
Chronic pain patients say they are struggling in the face of a national shortage of prescription opioids, preventing them from getting the medicine their doctors prescribed.
In some cases, the sudden inability to get their medication has sent them into withdrawal.
Northern California patients in pain
“I’m in a huge amount of pain right now,” John Black, of Marysville, said.
Black said he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 25 years ago, but the medication he took for that led to other issues.
“Prednisone caused avascular necrosis, which is a dying of the blood supply or the end of the bones, which in turn caused me to have two and now three hip replacements,” he said. “I’ve had colon cancer, fistulas, you name it.”
Black said he and his doctor spent a few years trying to find a medication that would work for him to manage the pain. Eventually, he said, his doctor prescribed hydrocodone and acetaminophen tablets.
However, when he went to pick up his prescription medication in November, he said his pharmacy told him that they were all out because of a national shortage.
“I keep coming back day after day,” he said. “They sent me after 15 years of being on medication into withdrawals for no fault of my own.”
In Tracy, veteran Ubbo Coty has been experiencing a similar struggle. His challenges began while serving in the U.S. Air Force.
“I did seven deployments, four combat tours,” Coty said.
In 2006, he said, he broke his right foot.
“I had seven surgeries on it,” he explained.
Eventually, he found that led to a new problem.
“I’ve got a neuroma. So, the pain, it’s like a chronic pain problem,” Coty said.
He said his doctor prescribed Norco, a combination of hydrocodone and acetaminophen, because nothing else seemed to work. Yet, lately, he said his pharmacy has been telling him his medication is on backorder.
“I couldn’t walk my service dog. I couldn’t do things I normally do,” Coty said about the pain he was having to endure without his prescribed medication.
Black said it made it difficult to volunteer at 93Q, a nonprofit community radio station in Marysville, where he spreads the word about events and fundraisers in the area and interviews local leaders.
“All I want to be able to do is give back to the community, and this thing is not allowing me to do it,” he said.
Health care professionals try to help
Tracey Fremd has been a nurse practitioner for 35 years, specializing in pain management for 17 years.
“In all my practice in pain management, I’ve never seen a shortage of opiates to treat my pain patients as I have in the last six months,” she said.
Fremd said stopping medication like that all of a sudden instead of tapering can lead to withdrawal symptoms, like fever, chills, nausea, vomiting and confusion.
“Most of them don’t require hospitalization, but in the higher doses, you’re at risk for seizure, and you’re at risk for death,” Fremd said.
She is concerned for her patients, saying her staff is now spending a lot of time making calls to patients and pharmacies to figure out what medications will not have adverse affects on patients and are actually in stock at pharmacies.
“That has led to approximately 30 to 40% more workload on my staff and myself in the last 2 to 3 months as it kind of has worsened,” she explained.
What’s causing the shortage?
In determining what factors may have led to the shortage, KCRA 3 Investigates reached out to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first.
By their definition, the agency said that there was no shortage.
“The FDA is not aware of a current shortage of hydrocodone. For your background, the FDA receives information provided by manufacturers regarding their ability to supply the market, as well as market sales data on the specific products, then lists drugs on its shortages website once it has confirmed that overall market demand is not being met by the manufacturers of the product. The FDA does not consider a product to be in shortage if one or more manufacturers are able to fully supply market demand for the product.”
However, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) said it tracks drug shortages differently and has been looking into shortages of hydrocodone and oxycodone over the past year. You can find details on drug shortages at ASHP’s website.
“We look at whether or not patients on the front lines or health care practitioners are able to procure the medication,” said Michael Ganio, the senior director of pharmacy practice and quality at ASHP.
Ganio said there may be a few reasons for the current shortage of prescription opioids, starting with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which sets a limit each year on how much of the pain pills can be made.
“The bad news is that toward the end of the calendar year, we think some of the shortages may have been due to those DEA quotas,” he said.
Some companies may have been restricted from making more while others might not even meet their quotas because of unexpected production issues, Ganio said.
An alarming number of overdose deaths have been fueled by the misuse and abuse of pain pills, which has since sparked thousands of lawsuits against drug companies, pharmacies and distributors.
Black and Coty feel like they are now caught in the middle, the unintended consequences of procedures intended to protect the public.
“Don’t punish the people that really do have to take it,” Coty said.
“There are people going through withdrawals that should not be, I’m talking 90-year-old women,” Black said. “It’s unconscionable.”
The DEA did not respond to multiple inquiries from KCRA 3 Investigates.
However, manufacturers and pharmacists said the DEA is trying something new this year, setting limits for drugmakers quarterly instead of annually.
Pharmacists are hopeful that it will help the agency make adjustments throughout the year if one company is meeting its quota and another is not, but manufacturers worry that it could actually make the market more unpredictable and unstable.
In the meantime, for patients dealing with drug shortages, Ganio asked people to be patient with their pharmacies.
“I know it’s an extremely disruptive shortage. It’s very frustrating,” he said. “A lot of the pharmacies are understaffed, or they’re dealing with flu season, and seasonal antibiotics are being used more frequently now. So, those pharmacies are busy.”
Fremd suggests people call their pharmacy a few days before refilling a prescription to find out if their medication is in stock.
If it is not, then they should find out what is available and talk with their doctor about possible, safe alternatives, she said.
