Former drug industry lobbyist helps steer Trump drug plan
Source: Politico
Many health policy watchers say even if Joe Grogan’s actions on drug policy have been legal, his role is still troubling.
By DAVID PITTMAN 05/27/2018 06:46 AM EDT
The White House official who will shape a large part of the administration's drug price plan worked on many of the same issues as an industry lobbyist, raising questions about whether he violated President Donald Trump's ethics rules.
Joe Grogan — who has sweeping authority over drug pricing, entitlement programs and other aspects of federal health policy at the Office of Management and Budget — didn't obtain a waiver from a directive Trump issued during his first week in office that imposed a two-year cooling-off period between lobbying and regulating on the same "specific issue area."
Grogan worked as the top lobbyist for Gilead Sciences until he arrived at OMB last March, dealing with issues including how much federal health programs would pay for its medicines. Gilead was the company that in 2014 effectively set off the drug price controversy with Sovaldi, its breakthrough hepatitis C cure that cost $1,000 per pill and triggered a lengthy and highly critical Senate Finance Committee probe.
The administration says Grogan didn't need such a waiver because his OMB job doesn't overlap with what he did for California-based Gilead. His new role, OMB says, affects policy for an entire industry, not simply the one company he worked for.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/27/trump-drug-plan-lobbyist-joe-grogan-609170
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