- - White House announces more deals to bring down prescription drug prices

December 20, 2025 at 3:05 AM

0

FILE- Bottles of medicine ride on a belt at a mail-in pharmacy warehouse in Florence, N.J., July 10, 2018. (Julio Cortez/AP)

The White House announced new agreements with nine pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices Friday, as part of President Trump’s broader effort to cut healthcare costs in line with other nations.

“This is the biggest thing having to do with drugs in the history of the purchase of drugs,” Trump said.

The agreements lower drug prices for state Medicaid programs to most favored nation prices, offer discounts for direct consumer purchases from the administration’s website, TrumpRX.com, and require companies to remit part of increases in foreign revenue for American benefit, according to the administration.

“The President said, before we start passing laws and beating these folks, just look at them in the eyes. Be tough, but say, are you willing to work with us? Are you willing to allow us to convene the industry and get the right pricing for the American people in a way it doesn't destroy your ability to innovate and create life saving solutions? Today's announcement is a combination of that effort,” said Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in an interview with Scripps News.

The agreements with Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GSK, Merck, Novartis and Sanofi mean 14 companies of the 17 Trump sent letters to earlier in the year requesting such a move have signed on. The administration previously announced agreements with Pfizer, AstraZeneca, EMD Serono, Novo Nordisk and Lilly.

Senior administration officials say their “inboxes are overflowing” with more companies seeking to sign agreements.

“What started as a trickle now is a flood. This signifies the entire industry is coming in,” Dr. Oz said. “We’ll help Americans who have cancer, diabetes, heart disease, a slew of problems now will be more easily affordable, and the American people won't be turned away at the pharmacy because they don't have the money, which happens one in three times.”

The agreements impact drugs with prices higher than what other European nations are paying, according to a senior administration official noting it “is not an issue of the average, it’s an issue of variability.”

The agreements impact drugs used for treatment for diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, asthma, COPD, Hepatitis B and C, HIV and some cancers, according to the White House.

It includes, for example, a discount from $330 to $100 for diabetes medication Januvia from Merck through the direct-to-consumer website that senior administration officials expect to be available early next year.

RELATED STORY | President Trump reclassifies marijuana, making it easier for medical use

“We've consistently said that we support the notion that we have to find ways to make drugs most more affordable and accessible in the United States, and also we need to address the pricing disparities around the world and make sure that countries other than the United States are paying their fair share. And we saw this agreement as a way to take an important step in that regard,” said the company’s Chairman and CEO, Rob Davis, in an interview with Scripps News.

The agreements also bring most favored nation pricing to new medicine companies bring to market.

Davis pointed to the company’s investigation drug waiting on potential approval, Enlicitide, as an example.

“What this agreement allows us to do is to not only have an easy to take oral pill, but get that pill to patients in an accessible way and at an affordable cost through trumprx.com, and so I use that as an example, just to say that's going to bring access, it's going to bring affordability, and it's going to bring a drug, assuming it's approved, they'll have a meaningful benefit for patients,” Davis said, noting they’ll look for other drugs to bring in moving forward.

Drugs that are injectable or need an infusion won’t be on TrumpRX, an official noted, citing the need for them to be administered by providers.

While Davis noted there is an impact to margins, he dismissed any concerns.

“Obviously there is an impact, but credit to the administration, I think they've helped us ensure it's manageable in the short and the long term, and importantly, over time, if we can get foreign prices up, that can help offset it. So it will impact us, but it's not going to stop us from pursuing our mission to to discover, develop and deliver life saving medicines. That continues. and in that in that sense, I feel quite good that as I look forward for my company, we continue to be quite confident in our long-term growth prospects even taking into account what we're doing here today,” Davis said.

Officials expect the agreements to represent more than $150 billion in new investment in manufacturing, research and development in the U.S. as well.

The agreements also include donations to the strategic active pharmaceutical ingredients reserve for emergencies, including donations of ertapenem, apixaban and albuterol. Some manufacturers will also convert raw ingredients into finished medicine during emergencies, according to senior administration officials.

MORE ON MEDICINE | Medicare Part D recipients to see lower prices on Ozempic, Wegovy and more

But as the administration touts efforts to lower prices, millions of Americans are facing the potential for higher premiums with the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies at the end of the year and no deal or consensus in Congress on an extension or health plan.

Trump has said he wants money sent directly to Americans rather than insurance companies, for example through a health savings account, though he hasn’t offered specific details.

“It is not the Republicans’ fault, it's the Democrats’ fault. It's the Unaffordable Care Act and everybody knew it,” Trump said during an address to the nation Wednesday.

Dr. Oz sought to offer assurance.

“What may have happened with all this debate is a awareness of the American people that this is a really good deal. Maybe it's not 95% subsidized, but it's 80% subsidized. Well, you go to a restaurant, they pay 80% of the bill, you're still pretty happy, even if you didn't get the whole bill paid for. So the fact that we have only dropped about 2.8% roughly from the norm, you know, that we had last year. I mean, we're right in the ballpark. We could even be more than last year. We will have to see. But the American people aren't running from the exchanges. The folks who want the exchange, who like the exchanges, are staying the exchanges. We need to innovate to make the service even better,” Dr. Oz said.

The expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits is estimated to have a114 percent increase for what subsidized enrollees annually pay for premiums, according to KFF.

As Congress left town Friday without an agreement, Trump suggested he would call a meeting with insurance companies in the near future.

“There's another way of doing it, and that's getting the insurance companies to ease up and to cut their pricing way, way down, and stay part of the system,” Trump said.

“I'm going to call a meeting of the big insurance companies that have gotten so rich by receiving money, and really much, far, far more money than they're entitled to,” he added.

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Breaking”