*By Bridgette Webb*
Drugmaker Merck announced earlier this month it will slash prices on several drugs by 10 percent or more.
But there is a catch: the price rollback will only affect some of the smaller products in its portfolioーlike Hepatitis C drug, Zepatier, which accounts for about 4 percent of the company's salesーand not top sellers like cancer treatment Keytruda.
"Their scope is relatively limited," said Peter Loftus, a Reporter for the Wall Street Journal, during an interview on Cheddar Monday. "If you think about the total sales that Merck generatesーit's a relatively small percentage."
Merck's announcement was met with praise from the Trump administration. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar claimed the drop in prices was spurred by Trump's latest crackdown on pharmaceutical companies.
Other big pharma names are following suit: Pfizer and Novartis announced they will freeze price increases for the rest of the year, earning them congratulatory tweets from the president.
Despite all of the price freezes and drops, Loftus says that patients may not actually see any real savings.
"I don't think you can say on a widespread basis, and really for the average drug or patient, that prices are coming down, there are still price increases."
For the full segment, [click here.]
(https://cheddar.com/videos/drugmakers-tout-lower-prices)
Nearly a day after being downgraded from a tropical storm, Ophelia still threatened parts of the Northeast on Sunday with coastal flooding, life-threatening waves and heavy rain from Washington to New York City, the National Hurricane Center said.
Surgeons have transplanted a pig’s heart into a dying man in a bid to prolong his life – only the second patient to ever undergo such an experimental feat. Two days later, the man was cracking jokes and able to sit in a chair, Maryland doctors said Friday.
Tropical Storm Ophelia formed off the mid-Atlantic coast and was expected to bring heavy rain, storm surge and windy conditions over the weekend, the National Hurricane Center said Friday.
A storm churning in waters off the eastern U.S. has increased to tropical storm strength and is forecast to reach the North Carolina coast Friday morning, the National Hurricane Center said.
