Remarks by President Trump at Signing of S. 2553, Know the Lowest Price Act, and S. 2554, Patient Right to Know Drug Price Act | Eastern North Carolina Now

    SECRETARY AZAR: Well, that you very much, Mr. President. And I just want to echo the President's gratitude to the members of Congress and the Senate for passing these two very important pieces of legislation that end pharmacy gag practices.

    You know, what that's about is preventing a patient from knowing they could pay less for drugs. And now we're giving patients the right to know. You can ask your pharmacist, "Could I pay less for this medicine than what my insurance is going to make me pay?" And that's an important right.

    And it shows that, with drug pricing, it's one of the areas where we can really work in a bipartisan way because there is significant consensus we've got to get drug prices down.

    And thanks to the President's leadership, we've already taken major action since the President rolled out his blueprint, brought competition and negotiation for the first time ever to an important part of the Medicare program. We're creating a pathway for importation of drugs to relieve exorbitant price increases of generic drugs and other branded, sole-source drugs here in the United States that are off-patent.

    And he's also brought increased competition through generic approvals and historic levels, and ended gaming by branded companies to prevent the entrance of new generic drugs. And more on that coming soon.

    And this is just the tip of the iceberg. In the weeks and months ahead, we have got so much more coming, in terms of regulatory action to bring down the price of drugs in this country.

    And the President is adamant about that. We're going to deliver on that. And it's all coming to a theater near you. And thank you very much, Mr. President, for your leadership here.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.

    SECRETARY AZAR: Thank you.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. It's been long in the making.

    (The bills are signed.) (Applause.)

    Okay. That's a big - that's a big thing. (Applause.)

    Q Mr. President, given the gravity of the storm, do you think it's appropriate to go on a campaign trip tonight, sir?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, I hear they have thousands of people lined up, and so we are in a little bit of a quagmire. I don't want to disappoint people. They've gotten there - some people were saying that they got there last night. I believe it starts at about 7 o'clock - going to Pennsylvania.

    So we'll probably go. Because what are you going to do? Tell thousands of people that have been waiting there all night that we're not coming? That's not fair either. So it's a very -

    But we have our - it's a very difficult situation, actually. We have our people ready. We are really ready in Florida, and, frankly, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina. We're very ready. And I think it'll be just fine.

    But I can't tell thousands of people that have been waiting - some of whom got there literally last night, in order to be and get into an arena at 7 o'clock. It's hard to tell them, "By the way, you've been waiting all day. Go home." That's not nice, either.

    I'm going to give some pens out. Come on over here, Carter. (Laughter and applause.) Lamar, thank you very much. And we have a few - come on over here, Mr. Secretary. Who's back here? He deserves it, huh? (Applause.)

    Everybody all set over here? Thank you all very much. Appreciate it. (Applause.)

    Q Mr. President, did you speak to the Saudi Crown Prince, sir? Or only staff?

    THE PRESIDENT: We're going to have a comment on that very soon. And we are very disappointed to see what's going on. We don't like it. We don't like it at all. And we're going to get to the bottom of it. Thank you very much. Thank you, folks. (Applause.)

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