12 December 2018 - Drugmakers are desperately trying to conclude a difficult 2018 with a big win in Congress before a Democratic-led House turns an even more intense spotlight on them next year. 

But chances of obtaining their biggest priority – a reversal of steeper drug discounts they must give Medicare enrolees – appear dimmer by the day.

The industry is pushing to ditch the steeper discounts — projected to cost it around $4 billion annually — in a year-end spending bill over which Democrats and Republicans are butting heads. But larger fights over border wall funding are consuming the attention of top lawmakers, and the White House isn’t making the so-called “doughnut hole” fix a top issue, either, according to lobbyists and former Hill aides.

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