President Donald Trump announced Friday that he has struck most-favored-nation (MFN) deals with nine more major drug companies to radically lower prescription drug costs, bringing the total to 14 agreements since late September.
Trump announced agreements with Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GSK, Merck, Novartis, and Sanofi during a press conference in the Roosevelt Room. The deals follow those he has already reached with Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, and EMD Serono, the first of which came with Pfizer several months ago.
“This represents the greatest victory for patient affordability in the history of American health care, by far, and every single American will benefit,” Trump said. “This is the biggest thing ever to happen on drug pricing and on health care.”
Drugs that treat a wide range of medical conditions, including asthma, certain cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Hepatitis B and C, HIV, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and more, will see substantial reductions through the nine latest deals, a White House fact sheet notes.
“Whatever the drug sells for… in the world, whatever the lowest number is–if it’s Germany, if it’s in U.K., anywhere–we will match that price. Right now, sometimes it’s ten times higher,” Trump said Friday. “We’ve been laughed at and scoffed at for years, for years!”
Per the White House, MFN drug prices on products from the nine companies will be accessible to all State Medicaid programs, which is estimated to save billions for Americans. Any new drugs the companies bring to market must be offered at MFN pricing through the agreements. Moreover, all companies have agreed to offer drastic discounts on drug prices when purchased through the Trump Rx website. The website will begin offering discounted prices in January.
The White House has provided a list of just some of the massive discounts Americans will have access to through the Trump Rx website:
- Amgen will reduce the price of its cholesterol-lowering drug Repatha from $573 to $239 for patients purchasing directly through TrumpRx.
- Bristol Myers Squibb will reduce the price of its HIV medication, Reyataz, from $1,449 to $217 for patients purchasing directly through TrumpRx.
- Boehringer Ingelheim will reduce the price of its type two diabetes medication, Jentadeuto, from $525 to $55 for patients purchasing directly through TrumpRx.
- Genentech will reduce the price of its flu medication, Xofluza, from $168 to $50 for patients purchasing directly through TrumpRx.
- Gilead Sciences will reduce the price of its Hepatitis C medication, Epclusa, from $24,920 to $2,425 for patients purchasing directly through TrumpRx.
- GSK will reduce the prices of its inhaler portfolio. Prices for the popular asthma inhaler Advair Diskus 500/50 will fall from $265 to $89 for patients purchasing directly through TrumpRx.
- Merck will reduce the price of its diabetes medication, Januvia, from $330 to $100 for patients purchasing directly through TrumpRx.
- Novartis will reduce the price of its Multiple Sclerosis medication, Mayzent, from $9,987 to $1,137 for patients purchasing directly through TrumpRx.
- Sanofi will reduce the price of its prescription blood thinner, Plavix, from $756 to $16 for patients purchasing directly through TrumpRx and Sanofi will list its insulin products at TrumpRx at $35 per month’s supply.
Trump emphasized during his press conference that drug companies made 75 percent of their profits through the American market, which accounts for 4 percent of the global population.
“That’s why I signed an executive order instructing my administration to do everything in its power to slash prescription drug prices for Americans while getting other countries to pay more,” he said.
Trump emphasized that he and his administration want fairness, noting “we want to pay the same thing.”
“As a result, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service agreed to pay the fair share for prescription drugs for the first time in 26 years, and we expect other countries in Europe will do the same,” he said.
Trump noted that he will impose tariffs on European countries if they do not agree to pay their fair share.
“If they don’t, we’re going to put tariffs on them, and we’ll get the same amount of money, plus we’ll take a nice return on the money,” he said.
Trump noted earlier in his remarks that he wanted to strike such deals in his first term, but said because of the coronavirus pandemic, “I don’t think it was a very good time to be hitting up Spain, Italy, France, but now we’re doing it.”
Through his first deal with Pfizer, Trump announced that Eucrisa, a dermatitis medication, will drop in cost by 80 percent, rheumatoid arthritis medication Xeljanz will be cut nearly in half, and the price for migraine medication Zavzpret will be slashed in half when bought directly. Pfizer drugs will be available to State Medicaid programs at MFN prices.
In his deal with Novo Nordisk, Ozempic, which currently costs $1,000 per month, and Wegovy, which runs at $1,350 per month, will both drop to $350 per month when bought through TrumpRx.
Zepbound, an Eli Lilly-produced GLP-1 drug, currently runs at $1,086 and will cost $346 a month through TrumpRX.
Trump’s deal with EMD Serono will drastically reduce the cost of drugs for cycles of in vitro fertilization.
Trump also noted he would be announcing more deals in the New Year, including with Johnson & Johnson. Trump added he wants to talk to insurance companies about slashing prices.
“I’m going to call a meeting of the insurance companies, I’m going to see if they get their price down to put it very bluntly,” he said.
He concluded without taking questions, saying that questions from the reporters in the room.
“What happened here is the biggest statement of all, because nobody thought a thing like this was possible,” he said. “I think based on that, I won’t even take questions today, because there’s no way I can take questions that are anywhere comparable to what you just witnessed.”
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