Oz: Innovation Won’t Be Hurt by Drug Price EO Since Prices in Other Nations Will Rise

During an interview aired on Monday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “The Record,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz argued that under the Trump executive order on drug prices, prices in America will decline, while prices in other countries will increase and companies will still have enough money for innovation.

Host Greta Van Susteren asked, “So, what I suspect is going to happen, or I hope, is that American prices will go down for medicine. These other countries who have not paid as much, their prices will go up, and that the money will still be funneled sufficiently so that we have innovation in our pharmaceutical industry. Is that sort of what you envision?”

Oz responded, “That’s exactly what the president has said in private, he said it today publicly in the press conference, and you’re going to hear that message over and over again. We want America to remain the most vital, most creative, most innovative country across the board. I treasure what the pharmaceutical industry has been able to create. I’ve witnessed it as a heart surgeon, firsthand, the number of lives saved. But if you’re a poor child in Philadelphia who’s requiring autoimmune illnesses — autoimmune medications to deal with your illness, or you’re an elderly pensioner in California who’s requiring blood thinners so you don’t have a stroke, and you can’t afford those medications, we’re not taking care of our fellow man. We’re not sticking up for the people who need us the most. And that’s what President Trump did today.”

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