Trump summons advisers to White House over drug price hikes

According to sources, US President Donald Trump is meeting with top officials to discuss the latest round of drug price increases, Politico reported.

One person familiar with the matter said that Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar will be among the individuals attending the summit.

Earlier this year, Trump expressed dissatisfaction following price increases on hundreds of drugs, stating "[drugmakers] and companies are not living up to their commitments on pricing."

"The President's been really clear — prices of drugs need to be coming down, not going up," remarked Azar, explaining that the administration has unveiled a number of policies targeting drug prices.

According to Rx Savings Solutions, the prices of more than 250 drugs were raised by an average of 6.3 percent on January 1, with Purdue Pharma increasing the prices of OxyContin and Butrans by 9.5 percent.

Meanwhile, Pfizer, while delayed price hikes last year following criticism from Trump, is expected to implement the price hikes on January 15.