Public Citizen FOIAs Pfizer-Trump Deal Text
Secrecy Leaves the Essential Questions Unanswered About Drug Pricing Plan
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Public Citizen sent requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to the Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies to release an agreement between Pfizer and the Trump Administration.
On Tuesday, President Trump and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla announced a deal on drug prices at the White House in line with Trump’s ‘most favored nation’ campaign. The White House published a fact sheet but not the agreement text, which Pfizer says is confidential.
“So much for ‘radical transparency’,” said Peter Maybarduk, Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines director. “Trump is substituting secret dealmaking for health policy. The Trump-Pfizer announcement has raised more questions than it answered. The deal’s secrecy makes it impossible to determine its effectiveness in lowering some drug prices, and that may be intentional. Prescription drug corporations are experts at gaming pricing rules. Secret deals with Big Pharma are a bad way to make health policy, and Trump says he is planning more of them. The White House must publish the text of the Pfizer deal, so Americans know what they are getting.”