Report: Aide to Trump’s nominee to head HHS plays role in heart failure drug controversy
An aide in the office of Rep. Tom Price, MD, sent multiple emails to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) requesting to remove from a government website a 2009 study that raised questions about a heart failure medication, ProPublica reports.
Price, a physician, is President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The CEO of Arbor Pharmaceuticals, LLC, which owned the rights to the medication known as BiDil, gave the maximum $2,700 campaign donation to Price. After Price’s aide’s requests, AHRQ kept the study online but added a note that read “This report is greater than 5 years old. Findings may be used for research purposes but should not be considered current,” according to ProPublica.
The website obtained the exchanges through public records requests.
Edward Schutter, Arbor’s CEO, told ProPublica he was not aware that his company requested anything from Price and said he did not discuss the issue with Price. Price’s office and HHS officials did not respond to ProPublica’s request for comment.
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Executive Editor
Tim Casey joined TriMed Media Group in 2015 as Executive Editor. For the previous four years, he worked as an editor and writer for HMP Communications, primarily focused on covering managed care issues and reporting from medical and health care conferences. He was also a staff reporter at the Sacramento Bee for more than four years covering professional, college and high school sports. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA degree from Georgetown University.