The following article was posted on the trumpaccountable.org website June 17, 2017:
Despite Donald Trump campaigning vigorously for more reasonable drug prices for Americans throughout the campaign, the Big Pharma lobby has established itself as a force that Donald Trump is unable or unwilling to challenge. One of the most pointed examples of this is the appointment of Joe Grogan, a lobbyist for pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences for the past five years, to the Office of Management and Budget and the office of health programs.
According to Grogan’s LinkedIn page he worked at Gilead Sciences as “Head of Federal Affairs” for over five years until joining the OMB this March. While at Gilead, Grogan was involved in high profile lobbying – including Gilead’s controversial pricing of drugs developed to cure hepatitis C – and otherwise worked to represent the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry.
Grogan is not on the list of former lobbyists turned public servants who received waivers to work in Donald Trump’s White House.
According to a piece published in Politico this morning, Grogan is working on an executive order that Trump is expected to sign in the coming weeks that, despite Trump’s promises before and after the election, will do little to rein in exorbitant prices on prescription drugs and may in fact be a boon to the pharmaceutical industry.
Here’s the bottom line: Millions of Americans voted Donald Trump into office because they thought he would represent them and their interests. In the case of prescription drug prices, Joe Grogan, and the pharmaceutical industry, his actions do not match his words.
View the post here.