Trump gives major drugmakers 60 days to cut U.S. prices
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Trump issuing the drug pricing order in May. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
President Trump on Thursday said he demanded commitments from 17 big drugmakers to lower their U.S. prices by committing to a "most favored nation" policy he laid out in a May executive order.
Why it matters: The move raises the stakes for pharmaceutical manufacturers as they brace for threatened tariffs on the sector.
Driving the news: Trump posted on Truth Social letters to the CEOs of companies including Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Abbvie and Pfizer demanding a "binding commitment" to the most-favored nation policy within 60 days.
- The identical letters addressed to various CEOs calls for MFN pricing for Medicaid, as well as newly launched drugs.
- The companies should "repatriate increased revenues" in the form of lower prices in an "explicit agreement" with the U.S., the letters state.
- Trump also demanded they make direct purchasing available at MFN pricing for high-volume, high-rebate prescription drugs in the U.S.
Trump said if companies don't comply, his administration would "deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing."
The other companies sent letters were: Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, EMD Serono, Genentech, Gilead, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Regeneron and Sanofi.
Between the lines: International pricing parity is controversial.
- The administration in late May set a target of the lowest price in an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development country with a GDP per capita that's at least 60% of the U.S.
- Trump proposed a similar MFN plan for Medicare in his first term. It was stopped by a federal court after drugmakers sued.
- The trade group PhRMA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. It has said MFN is a form of government price-setting that could have spillover effects to federal health programs.
