The White House announced that U.S. President Donald Trump has appointed Joe Grogan to serve as Domestic Policy Adviser on his White House staff (Politico 1/22/19). Grogan is a veteran of Washington’s revolving door phenomenon, having worked for the US government and the drug industry.

His resume includes stints at Health and Human Services Department (HHS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the President’s Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS as well as work for and at pharmaceutical companies Amgen and Gilead Sciences. (OpenSecrets.org)

Grogan joins the administration, which also includes former Eli Lilly executive HHS Secretary Alex Azar and former drug industry board member and current Food and Drug Administrator Scott Gottlieb, who served on the boards of eight pharmaceutical companies.

“The senior positions that former high-level drug industry executives now occupy in the Trump Administration is cause for worry and concern for anyone who wants to see progress on the dire crisis that obscene drug prices have created for the American people. Americans are dying because they can’t afford the medicine that the former employers of these officials are charging. We hope the recent appointment of this latest drug industry insider won’t prevent the President from delivering on his promise to hold bio and pharmaceutical companies accountable for the agony they have inflicted on patients who can’t afford their drugs to stay alive,” said AHF President Michael Weinstein.

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