White House, Pelosi have early talks on drug pricing legislation

The Trump administration has had early-stage conversations with Speaker Nancy Pelosi's staff about drug-pricing legislation in a bid for a domestic policy victory, according to White House sources.

The effort is being spearheaded on the administration's end by the Domestic Policy Council Director Joe Grogan, HHS and the legislative affairs staff. Wendell Primus, Pelosi's longtime health policy staffer, is handling talks on the speaker's end, sources told POLITICO Playbook.

Democrats and the Trump administration have made addressing drug costs a priority, but accomplishing anything could be difficult, especially as the administration takes an aggressive stance trying to overturn Obamacare in federal court.

Democrats have been reluctant to work with the president or give Republicans the opportunity to claim credit on an issue that polls show ranks high with likely voters.

House Democrats this week intend to start moving a package of narrow bills that address drug prices by creating more robust generic drug competition. Several of the measures have bipartisan backing.

One area of possible compromise could be on legislation that aims to make it harder for brand-name drug companies to deny samples of their products in order to block generic drug competition. CEOs from seven major drug companies recently told the Senate Finance Committee they could support some version of the plan, known as the CREATES Act.

The talks between the White House and Pelosi's office consist of staff-level discussions and aren't negotiations, according to Henry Connelly, Pelosi's deputy communications director.

"House Democrats promised the American people we'd take bold action to lower prescription drug prices, and that's what we're going to do," he told POLITICO Playbook.

The White House first rolled out a blueprint to lower drug prices last May. It has, among other things, encouraged manufacturers to pass on discounts directly to consumers and eliminate "back door rebates" to middlemen in the drug-supply chain.