Trump Announces Medicaid Drug-Pricing Agreements With Nine More Pharmaceutical Companies
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The Facts
- Trump announced Monday in the Oval Office that nine additional drugmakers signed "most-favored-nation" drug-pricing agreements.
- The nine companies are Alcon, Astellas Pharma, BeOne Medicines, BridgeBio, CSL, Kyowa Kirin, Sun Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals and UCB.
- Under the deals, the companies will charge state Medicaid programs prices tied to the lowest amounts paid in other developed nations.
- The White House said the agreements bring the total to 26 participating manufacturers, covering about 89% of the branded drug market.
- In exchange, the manufacturers are to be protected from pharmaceutical tariffs and exempted from most-favored-nation pricing models in Medicare.
- The White House said the nine firms committed to at least $19.6 billion in near-term U.S. manufacturing investment.
- Trump said the agreements are projected to save Americans more than $600 billion.
- The covered medicines treat conditions including hemophilia, Parkinson's disease, glaucoma and certain cancers.
- The administration previously reached most-favored-nation deals with 17 large manufacturers, including Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.
- The White House did not release company-by-company price details for the new agreements.
Context
What is "most-favored-nation" drug pricing?
It is a policy that links U.S. drug prices to the lower amounts paid in other developed countries such as Canada, Germany, France, Japan and the United Kingdom News & Analysis for…. U.S. patients currently pay the most for prescription medicines among developed nations, often nearly three times more Investing.com,NBC News. Under these agreements, participating manufacturers offer those benchmark prices on certain outpatient drugs sold to state Medicaid programs Fingerlakes1.com,Hill.
What do the drugmakers get in return?
Participating companies are expected to be shielded from pharmaceutical tariffs and to avoid new most-favored-nation pricing models in Medicare Hill,Axios,theepochtimes.com. Earlier signatories were also given multiyear tariff exemptions and product listings on TrumpRx.gov, a government-linked site launched to sell discounted name-brand medications directly to consumers ijr.com,Aol,CBS News.
What remains unresolved?
It is not yet clear whether the nine new signatories will receive the same multiyear tariff exemptions or TrumpRx.gov listings granted to earlier participants ijr.com. The White House also did not provide company-by-company pricing details, and the $600 billion savings figure is a projection stated by Trump rather than an itemized government estimate Fingerlakes1.com,NY Post,CBS News.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Americans paying more than other developed nations for the same branded drugs is a real wrong worth correcting, and Medicaid prices tied to the lowest foreign amount is the mechanism on the table.
- Where Left and Right split
- The left and the right split on whether these deals surrender Medicare leverage or finally end foreign free-riding.
- Why they won’t converge
- The divide is over trust in enforcement, not facts: one side counts a voluntary, unpublished bargain as unverifiable until proven, the other counts a signed commitment as leverage already exercised — and no savings figure settles which reading is right.
How left and right read it
What patients actually need is pricing power the public can enforce, and that is precisely what these handshake deals trade away: in exchange for Medicaid discounts, manufacturers get shielded from pharmaceutical tariffs and exempted from most-favored-nation pricing in Medicare. That exemption matters because Medicare is where public leverage over drug prices is strongest. A claimed $600 billion in savings, unbroken out, is not accountability. Announcements are cheap before an election.
“President Donald Trump on Monday unveiled new agreements with nine pharmaceutical companies that have pledged to cut prices on some drugs, his latest effort to promote his administration's health care agenda ahead of this fall's midterm elections.” — Washington Post
Americans have carried the cost of the world's medicine long enough, subsidizing the cheap prices other developed nations negotiated for themselves. That is why tying Medicaid prices to the lowest amount paid abroad matters more than the headline savings: with 26 manufacturers now covering roughly 89% of the branded market, the free ride is being priced back. And $19.6 billion returns production home. Who else should be made to pay their share?
“Trump has argued for years that Americans have been forced to subsidize cheaper medicine abroad, with drug companies making an outsized share of their profits from U.S. patients.” — NewsMax
Every drug-price win gets paid for somewhere. Washington bought lower Medicaid prices with Medicare exemptions and tariff protection for the manufacturers.
The receipts — all 66 sources
Wire services (3)
Independent coverage (50)
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