Trump’s tone toward pharma shifts, as he looks to drug makers to help with coronavirus response
WASHINGTON — President Trump had billed the meeting with pharmaceutical executives as a scolding waiting to happen. The gathering was intended to pressure the industry to bring drug prices “way down,” he said on Friday, suggesting it had only later morphed into a “convenient” opportunity to discuss the development of a coronavirus vaccine.
But seated across from 10 pharmaceutical executives in the Cabinet Room on Monday, Trump’s long-simmering contempt for the drug industry melted away. Trump told executives from Gilead, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer that they worked for a “great company.” He affectionately referred to Leonard Schleifer, the CEO of Regeneron, as “Lenny.” At one point, Trump referred to the assembled drug executives as “geniuses.”
