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President Donald Trump has complained that U.S. drug companies are "getting away with murder." For once the hyperbole is forgivable: It suggests he takes the problem of drug costs seriously and might be willing to do something about it. Unfortunately, his administration's efforts up to now suggest the opposite. The White House has proposed tweaks to government health-care programs. Some of these measures are worth trying -- they could help at the margin -- but tweaks aren't enough. The underlying problem is drug prices that are indeed murderous: Americans and their insurers often pay many times what people in other developed countries pay for the same medicines. That's what policy needs to confront. (2/27)

President Trump continues to vent about high drug prices, most recently in his State of the Union speech. Democrats like Senators Bernie Sanders and Claire McCaskill keep proposing legislation to curb rising medicine costs. But these pronouncements may not be worrying drug companies too much. They can see that for all of his bluster, the president has not embraced any significant reforms, and that Democrats don’t get much support on anything from the Republicans who control Congress. (Fran Quigley, 2/27)

A new survey of U.S. companies from analysts at Morgan Stanley estimates that 43 percent of the savings from the Republican tax cut bill will be paid to investors in the form of higher dividends and stock buybacks. Leading the way are large pharmaceutical companies, which Axios.com reported last week are spending a combined $50 billion on stock-buyback programs. Only 13 percent of corporate America’s tax-cut savings will be passed on to employees, the Morgan Stanley analysts reported. Much of that will go to executives, whose compensation is often tied to stock prices, and they’ll benefit as well when share buybacks cause stock prices to jump. (2/26)

Compared with the rest of the world, the U.S. market for prescription drugs is rigged against consumers and in favor of the pharmaceutical industry. Unlike other advanced nations, the United States refuses to use its purchasing power to negotiate better prices. When Congress, in 2003, passed the Medicare Part D bill to help senior citizens buy prescriptions, it prohibited the government from negotiating cheaper prices for those drugs. (2/27)

The health-care industry may hope a joint venture on its turf by Amazon.com Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (ABC from now on) might be happy just rolling out an app and driving better deals with third-party vendors. But that's wishful thinking, according to Warren Buffett. The Berkshire CEO said in an interview Monday that ABC is looking for "something much bigger than that. "Far more savings can be had by cutting out the health industry's middlemen and their warped incentives altogether. ABC appears to be headed down that path -- but it is a difficult one. (Max Nisen, 2/26)

Thanks to a surprising and devastating diagnosis, I know more than most physicians about what it’s like to live with the brain cancer known as glioblastoma, everything from self-titrating my anti-epileptic medications to making sure the right ICD-10 code appears on my MRI referrals. As much as I’d rather not have this expertise, I’ve learned that it is extremely valuable for medical students, physicians, people with brain cancer, pharmaceutical companies, and others. I’ve also learned that it is undervalued. (Adam Hayden, 2/27)