Trending News Today: Drug Prices Remain High Despite Government Scrutiny

President-elect Donald Trump has been outspoken about his feelings on the Affordable Care Act, and his stated goal to dismantle the legislation once he takes office does not seem to have affected signups for the insurance system, reported the Los Angeles Times. The government reported that during the first 12 days of open enrollment for Obamacare this year, there were 53,000 more signups than last year.

Despite the pressure Congress has placed on drug manufacturers about high drug costs, the list prices have not budged, reported The Washington Post. House and Senate committees have issued more than a dozen subpoenas to these drugmakers in the last 2 years, collecting hundreds of thousands of documents and shaming executives for more than 16 hours of public hearings, according to the Post. The Associated Press released a review of the list prices of nearly 30 of the targeted brand name/generic drugs and figures from Truven Health Analytics, finding that most have not budged since coming under government scrutiny.

On Wednesday, researchers unveiled a new star-shaped device designed to deliver drugs for weeks at a time, according to the Los Angeles Times. Boston-based engineers and physicians demonstrated a first-of-its-kind multi-pronged drug delivery mechanism with the ability to withstand challenging forces that prevail for as long as 2 weeks in the gut, the LA Times reported.