Nine pharmaceutical companies sign deals with Trump to lower drug prices

Several of the largest drugmakers in the United States and Europe signed deals with President Donald Trump on Friday to voluntarily sell their drugs at a lower price, as his administration seeks to tie drug prices in the country to cheaper prices abroad.

That includes Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, Amgen, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, SanofiRoche Genentech and privately held Boehringer Ingelheim Novartis.

This represents the majority of the 17 pharmaceutical companies to which Trump sent letters in July, calling on them to reduce prices as part of the “most favored nation” policy. Trump signed an executive order in May to revive the policy, calling for higher prices outside the United States and “an end to global liberalization.”

“As of today, 14 of the 17 major pharmaceutical companies…have agreed to significantly lower drug prices for the American people and American patients,” Trump said at an event on Friday. “This represents the greatest victory for patient affordability in the history of American health care, and every American will benefit from it.”

Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie, and Regeneron are the remaining companies among the largest that have not signed drug pricing deals. But Trump pointed this out Johnson & Johnson “He’ll be here next week.”

The nine drug companies agreed to take measures to lower U.S. drug prices, including selling their existing treatments to Medicaid patients at the lowest “most favored nation” price. Trump said drugmakers have also agreed to list their most popular drugs on his upcoming direct-to-consumer website, TrumpRx, which will launch in January.

Earlier this year, Trump announced agreements with… Eli Lillyand Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and EMD Serono to sell certain drugs directly to patients at a discount, in exchange for planned pharmaceutical tariff exemptions and other benefits, such as faster reviews for new drugs.

Prescription drug prices in the United States are on average nearly three times higher than those abroad, according to a 2024 RAND Corporation study. The report found that prices for brand-name drugs were more than four times higher.

Trump signed an executive order in May to revive the most-favoured-nation policy, calling for higher prices outside the United States and “an end to global free radicalization.”

The trade association PhRMA, which represents many big drug companies, said most favored nation pricing is not the best way to lower drug costs for Americans, and instead blamed pharmacy benefit managers for the price discrepancy.

The United States is the most important market for many pharmaceutical companies, regardless of their country of origin. Despite their presence across the Atlantic, European pharmaceutical companies have significant exposure to the US market, with half of the continent’s top ten companies generating the majority of their sales in the US.

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