Donald Trump Can't Prop Up Drug Prices

President-elect Donald Trump has attempted to be more conciliatory than he was during his campaign, signaling flexibility on some of his most extreme campaign promises. For example, Trump 2.0 has been downright cuddly to pharma after frequently criticizing its pricing practices during his campaign.

A health-care plan on his transition website has no mention of high drug prices, with only vague bullet points on supporting innovative research and softening the FDA. Biopharma stocks had plunged this year due partly to fears that a Hillary Clinton presidency might usher in drug-price controls; the Nasdaq Biotech Index was down as much as 26 percent for the year the week before the election. The index spiked 9 percent on the Wednesday after Trump won the election, its biggest jump since 2008.