President Donald Trump said Friday that his administration has reached agreements with nine additional pharmaceutical companies, extending a campaign aimed at reducing prescription drug prices for certain Americans while temporarily shelving threatened import tariffs, according to Bloomberg.
The latest agreements bring the total to 14 of the 17 drugmakers the White House targeted earlier this year. Per Bloomberg, the companies have committed to a mix of measures that include lowering prices for Medicaid recipients, selling some medicines directly to consumers at discounted rates, and launching new drugs in the US at prices comparable to those charged overseas. In return, they receive a three-year pause from potential tariffs.
“American drug prices will come down fast and furious, and will soon be among the lowest in the developed world,” Trump said during an Oval Office event announcing the deals.
The companies newly signing on include Roche Holding AG’s Genentech unit, Novartis AG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Gilead Sciences Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim, Amgen Inc., GSK Plc, Sanofi and Merck & Co. According to Bloomberg, the structure of these agreements closely mirrors earlier deals struck with Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc.
Three major companies — AbbVie Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. — have yet to finalize agreements. All confirmed they are in ongoing discussions with the administration. Trump said they would still need to offer price reductions to avoid tariffs, Bloomberg reported.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick indicated that additional announcements could come after the holidays, as the administration prepares to launch the TrumpRx website early next year. The platform is expected to serve as a marketplace for the discounted medicines covered by the agreements, per Bloomberg.
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Alongside the pricing deals, the Food and Drug Administration said it would grant Merck expedited review for two drugs in development: a cholesterol treatment and a cancer therapy. The accelerated pathway is intended to shrink review timelines from roughly a year to as little as one or two months, according to Bloomberg.
Executives from participating companies highlighted manufacturing investments and price cuts they said would bolster the US health-care system. However, Bloomberg noted that some of the spending plans had been disclosed previously and that several of the drugs highlighted by the administration already face competition from lower-cost alternatives.
As part of the agreements, Bristol-Myers said it would provide its top-selling blood thinner Eliquis free of charge to Medicaid, while Gilead pledged to reduce the price of its hepatitis C drug Epclusa to under $2,500 on the TrumpRx platform, down from nearly ten times that amount, according to Bloomberg.
“This will have a tremendous impact on health care,” Trump said.
Critics, however, argue that some of the touted savings may be limited. Bloomberg reported that certain medicines, such as Sanofi’s insulin products, are already sold at similar prices through existing patient assistance programs, and others have generic versions available at lower cost.
During the event, Trump also said he intends to convene insurance companies to discuss lowering premiums, an issue that has drawn renewed attention as Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollees face higher monthly costs after subsidies were not extended. His comments weighed on health insurance stocks, with companies such as UnitedHealth Group Inc., Elevance Health Inc. and CVS Health Corp. retreating during the trading session, according to Bloomberg.
The insurance industry pushed back, saying premiums largely reflect underlying medical costs. AHIP, the industry’s main trade group, said insurers’ margins and administrative expenses are regulated and expressed openness to discussions on cost reduction, Bloomberg reported.
Drug pricing remains a politically charged issue, with Americans paying more for medicines than consumers in other countries. Pharmaceutical companies argue that higher US prices help fund research and development and reflect differences in foreign pricing systems. As part of the new deals, Bloomberg said several companies agreed to donate six months’ worth of certain raw drug materials to a national stockpile and to manufacture finished medicines in emergencies, including antibiotics and inhalers.
Source: Bloomberg
