Rhetoric Meets Reality: A Timeline Of Trump's First 100 Days
Executive Summary
President Trump is empty-handed on health care victories so far, as initial health reform repeal efforts collapsed and the shock value of drug pricing tweets wore off. But some actions may evolve into biopharma impact further down the road.
Supporters of President Donald Trump's health care pledges might be particularly vexed at the traditional benchmark of assessing the first 100 days in office for a new US president.
His early inflammatory comments on drug pricing controls sparked negative Wall Street reaction. But as he filled in his circle of advisors, including HHS Secretary Tom Price, industry and investors seemed to be reassured that drastic actions, such as HHS price negotiation in Medicare Part D and drug importation, are less likely to become reality. Though with President Trump, perhaps, anything still can happen. (Also see "Who Speaks For The White House On Drug Prices? Industry Better Hope It Is Not Donald Trump" - Pink Sheet, 14 Mar, 2017.)
His bold promise for quickly repealing health care reform has been stymied by the inability to develop a consensus Republican proposal and perhaps a lack of vigorous championing of specific proposals by the White House. The first 100 days have been characterized by a lot of activity but so far, at least, not much to show for it.
On the FDA side, there's also been a lot of activity, but more focused on items like budget freezes than changes in substantive policy. That could be about to change soon, with a pending Senate vote on whether to confirm Scott Gottlieb as FDA commissioner. (Also see "Gottlieb Advances, But FDA's Future Seems Increasingly Partisan" - Pink Sheet, 27 Apr, 2017.) Longer term, a key driver of changes in FDA policy direction will be renewal of the user fee programs. (Also see "FDA User Fee Bills: Is It Possible For Reauthorization To Be Too Clean?" - Pink Sheet, 18 Apr, 2017.)
Despite many vacancies, HHS is ahead of several other federal agencies in selections of key officials, including the confirmation of CMS Administrator Seema Verma and the nomination of ViraCyte CEO and life sciences expert Brett Giroir as assistant secretary for health. Key regulators chosen by the Trump administration appear to favor market-driven solutions to drug pricing and industry-friendly policies.
The first 100 days in office measure arose from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's success in pushing through numerous major New Deal legislative proposals to address the Great Depression. While something of an artificial construct, it's a way to gauge a president's success when political capital is likely at its highest. While many analysts have compared Trump unfavorably to several other presidents in this regard, his administration has nonetheless taken many actions that could play out in significant impacts in the future.
See below for our timeline of those events and click for a version of the timeline with links to our key articles published in these first 100 days.
Our sister publication, In Vivo, also offers some points for biopharma to consider in moving forward from here. (Also see "Trump’s Next 1,000 Days: Advice For The Pharma C-suite" - In Vivo, 24 Apr, 2017.)
