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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. (Max Nisen, 11/15)

After a year of Pharma Bros and EpiPens, we certainly don’t need more proof that Americans are deeply frustrated with prescription drug prices. This frustration is rooted in a simple fact: Though most Americans can afford their medicines, some patients with serious chronic illnesses are struggling to afford their drug co-pays. Fixing that relatively discrete problem — the vast majority of drugs sold today are inexpensive generics that Americans can buy for less than two tickets to their local movie theater — should be the focus of the Trump administration and Congress in 2017. Together, they can not only expand access to more affordable and innovative medicines, but extend American leadership of a vital global industry and generate more high-paying, U.S.-based manufacturing jobs. (Paul Howard, 11/14)

A fact of life in the United States today is that patients suffer when their drug costs are too high.  That’s something on which a vast majority of Americans can agree, regardless of where one falls on the political spectrum.  In fact, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 71 cents of every dollar of healthcare spending goes to treating people with multiple chronic conditions. And it’s time Congress take swift and effective action to reduce the high burden of drug costs to patients. (Quardricos B. Driskell, 11/10)

According to the latest report from the Altarum Institute, "moderate 2016 health spending growth continues a slow downward trend." Unfortunately, this doesn't fit the narrative of those who want to talk about runaway trains -- especially for pharmaceuticals. Here are the numbers: Hospital spending represents 32 percent of American healthcare spending, 20 percent goes to physician and clinical services, 15 percent goes to "other health spending," and 10 percent is for prescription drugs. (Peter Pitts, 11/14)