Pharmaceutical companies sign agreements with Trump to lower drug prices
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| Largest Pharmaceutical Companies Reduce Drug Prices |
Several of the largest American and European pharmaceutical companies signed agreements with President Donald Trump on Friday, December 19, to voluntarily lower the prices of their drugs, as part of his administration's efforts to align domestic drug prices with those in other countries.
These companies include Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, Amgen, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Sanofi, Genentech (a subsidiary of Roche), Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novartis. Nine of the largest pharmaceutical companies sign agreements with Trump to lower drug prices
In return, the companies agreed to a three-year grace period during which their products would not be subject to the tariffs Trump had planned for pharmaceuticals, provided they invest more in American manufacturing.
These companies comprise the majority of the 17 pharmaceutical companies to which Trump sent letters in July, urging them to lower prices as part of his "most-favored-nation policy.
Trump signed an executive order in May to revive this policy, calling for higher prices outside the United States and an end to "free-market exploitation.
The nine pharmaceutical companies agreed to take steps to lower drug prices in the United States, including selling their existing treatments to Medicaid patients at the lowest available price and guaranteeing that price for new drugs.
Trump said that pharmaceutical companies have also agreed to list their best-selling drugs on his new direct-to-consumer marketing website, TrumpRx, which will launch in January.