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WASHINGTON, Sept. 19-- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday unveiled a long-awaited plan to lower prices for non-prescription drugs, but the proposal could face an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Senate. The plan, a top priority for the Democrats this year, would allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to negotiate the prices of up to 250 drugs annually. The drugs whose prices will be subject to adjustments are those without "a generic or biosimilar competitor on the market," according to a summary of the plan. "The Secretary would use data provided by Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance to make the determination about aggregate cost, which is a measure of price and volume of sales," read the summary. "The Secretary will negotiate as many drugs as possible each year, with a bare minimum of 25 annually, recognizing the practical capacity and bandwidth constraints on HHS," it added. Pelosi appeared to be counting on support from the Trump administration to get the bill passed in the Senate. "We do hope to have White House buy-in because that seems to be the route to getting any votes in the United States Senate," she said at a press conference on Thursday. "This is an introduction. So much more will be added in the committee process and the public review of it," the congresswoman added. House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, however, played down the possibility of President Donald Trump endorsing the Democratic bill. | 
