NOT SO FAST

Judge Blocks Trump Plan to Make TV Drug Ads List Prices

The rule was due to come into effect this week and would have forced drug makers to include their costs in commercials.

The Trump administration has hit yet another roadblock in the courts—this time, a judge has ruled that Trump can’t force pharmaceutical companies to include the list price of their drugs in television ads. The rule was due to take effect this week and was a crucial part of Trump’s efforts to be seen to be doing more to force drug companies to lower prices. However, Judge Amit Mehta, of the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, ruled that the Department of Health and Human Services had overreached its regulatory authority by bringing in the rule. It would have forced drug makers to include in their TV commercials the list price of any drug that costs more than $35 a month. On Monday night, Judd Deere, a spokesman for the White House, said: “It is outrageous that an Obama-appointed judge sided with big pharma to keep high drug prices secret from the American people, leaving patients and families as the real victims.”