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President Trump is likely to sign executive orders on Friday aimed at lowering drug prices, elevating a key issue for voters in an election year. While the plans could shift at the last minute, some GOP lawmakers have been invited to a presidential event on drug pricing Friday at 3 p.m. at the White House in the South Court Auditorium to make the announcement, according to an invitation obtained by The Hill. (Sullivan, 7/23)

The pharmaceutical industry made it clear to the Food and Drug Administration that it wants the regulatory flexibilities the agency has embraced during the Covid-19 pandemic to be made permanent — and it’s ready to push to make sure it happens. “There is a pressing need for FDA and industry to identify actions taken during the Covid-19 pandemic and evaluate their effectiveness and applicability to innovative drug development beyond the public health emergency,” said Lucy Vereshchagina, vice president of science and regulatory affairs at PhRMA. (Florko, 7/23)

The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that it would require drug manufacturers to include information about naloxone, the overdose-reversal medication, on the labels of opioid painkillers. The move comes just weeks after the federal government released new data showing that U.S. drug overdose deaths reached an all-time high in 2019, surpassing the previous peak recorded two years earlier. (Facher, 7/23)

Prescribing instructions for all opioids, such as Percocet and OxyContin, will recommend doctors discuss how to get the overdose-reversal drug, which can be obtained from pharmacists without a prescription. For patients with a higher risk of overdose, such as those with a history of opioid addiction, doctors should consider prescribing naloxone alongside the opioid. The same recommendations will appear on drugs used to control opioid addiction, such as methadone. (Perrone, 7/23)