The Economist.

Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist.

I'm your host, Rosie Bloor.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Thank you. Today, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Earlier this year, North Koreans stole $1.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency in one of the most extraordinary heists in history. Our correspondent explains how the Hermmit kingdom became the hacking kingdom.

And Alvaro Mangino was one of 16 people who survived a plane crash in the Andes in 1972.

We recount that incredible story and remember his life.

But first... You may have noticed that Donald Trump has been quite disruptive in the past few months.

Sector after sector has faced upheaval and uncertainty.

Now under scrutiny is Big Pharma.

Mass layoffs at the FDA are causing major delays in drug development. Layoffs demanded by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency have hit the agencies that approve new medicines.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services is a vaccine skeptic.

Vaccines are exempt from pre-licensing placebo control trials so that there's no way that anybody can tell the risk profile of those

products or even the relative benefits. And on Monday, Donald Trump issued an executive order.

Drug companies must cut the price of medications in America to the lowest level they charge in

other rich countries. Sounds great for consumers, but things aren't quite that simple.

On average, branded drugs in America

cost more than three times

the price in other rich countries.

Chalice Chitnes is a business writer at The Economist.

And efforts to lower prices in America are not new.

...