In a significant move to alleviate the financial burden on American patients, President Donald Trump announced that nine leading pharmaceutical companies have committed to agreements aimed at reducing prescription drug prices.
As reported by One America News, the announcement took place during a White House event attended by executives from Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GSK, Merck, Novartis, and Sanofi. Trump has consistently emphasized the disproportionate costs borne by Americans for medications compared to other nations.
This summer, he addressed letters to 17 pharmaceutical firms, urging them to align U.S. prices with international rates. The White House highlighted, The United States has less than five percent of the worlds population, yet roughly 75% of global pharmaceutical profits come from American taxpayers.
The newly established agreements will see prices for several essential prescription drugs adjusted to match the lowest rates paid globally, a strategy Trump refers to as most favored nation pricing. While this may result in a slight increase in drug prices for other countries, Trump argued that it is preferable to imposing 10% tariffs.
He further advocated for his tariff strategy, asserting that it played a crucial role in persuading foreign nations. They said, Is that a threat? I said, yes, it is a threat, Trump remarked. Whats happening, because the world is bigger than the United States that same pill would go from $10 to $20 for them. Ours would go from $130 to $20 Thats the way it is.
To date, 14 of the 17 companies contacted by the administration have agreed to the pricing deal, with the remaining three expected to follow suit. Trump humorously noted that these three companies are in deep trouble, but expressed confidence that they would eventually join. As of today, 14 out of the 17 largest pharmaceutical companies but theyve all agreed have now agreed to drastically lower drug prices for their American patients, he stated.
The President provided specific examples of the anticipated reductions, such as Sanofis blood thinner Plavix decreasing from $750 to under $16, and Gileads hepatitis C medication dropping from nearly $25,000 to less than $2,500 a 90% reduction.
In addition to the pricing agreements, the pharmaceutical companies have pledged to invest over $150 billion to enhance domestic drug manufacturing, which Trump praised as a patriotic contribution to U.S. national security. Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, was invited to share his thoughts. This is affordability in action, said Oz.
We talk about it in abstract, but this is not an abstract concept. This is a very concrete, tangible, personal reality. Because weve got moms with sick children who cannot afford their medications, working families cannot make ends meet, seniors on fixed income 80 million people who have to pay more than $100 a month for their prescriptions. They just cant keep up.
Dr. Oz commended the administrations bold leadership in setting a new industry standard. So, this is a hardcore approach to this driven by a bold leader whos taken bold action. With that bold action, weve created a standard for the industry If these brilliant innovators create solutions to cancer, hypertension, hepatitis, and a bunch of other viruses, illnesses that have been lethal throughout human history, but you cant afford them, then were not treating you fairly.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick echoed this sentiment, lauding the administrations efforts to reduce costs and bolster domestic manufacturing as the most impressive thing [hed] ever seen. You want to know when you take that drug that it is made in America, overseen by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and it is safe, he stated. This is delivering for America.
Executives from the pharmaceutical companies elaborated on their investments and the specifics of their agreements with the Trump administration. Bristol Myers Squibb Executive Vice President Cari Gallman announced that the company would provide the blood thinner Eliquis, its number one prescribed medicine, to Medicaid for free.
She added, Were also answering the administrations call to shore up the national medicine reserves by donating more than six and a half tons of Eliquis, as part of the companys commitment to invest $40 billion into research and development in the U.S.
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