Trump announces price-lowering deals with nine drugmakers

President Donald Trump announced Friday that nine pharmaceutical companies have agreed to lower the cost of their prescription drugs in the United States. The companies—Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GSK, Merck, Novartis and Sanofi—will align Medicaid prices with those charged in other developed countries and will apply most-favored-nation pricing to newly launched medicines across all markets, including commercial plans, cash purchases and both Medicare and Medicaid.

The nine firms are Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GSK, Merck, Novartis and Sanofi. Under the agreement, new drugs will be priced at the MFN rate nationwide for all buyers, including private insurers and those paying out of pocket, in addition to government programs. Officials said the plan also includes selling pharmacy-ready medicines on the TrumpRx platform, which is set to launch in January and would allow people to purchase medicines directly from manufacturers. While the policy is framed as reducing costs for patients, experts cautioned that the full effect remains uncertain and will unfold over time.

Beyond price cuts, the collaboration includes donations of certain medicines and ingredients to bolster emergency readiness. Merck, GSK and Bristol Myers Squibb said they will donate active pharmaceutical ingredients to a national reserve and help formulate and distribute medications in emergencies, including antibiotics, rescue inhalers and blood thinners as needed. Bristol Myers Squibb said it will give Medicaid free access to Eliquis, its leading blood thinner. Other major drugmakers, including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, EMD Serono, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, struck similar agreements with the administration earlier this year; terms were not disclosed. Trump has said he used the threat of a 10% tariff to push companies toward agreements, a claim officials have echoed in outlining the tough posture used to secure concessions.

Noted health economists offered tempered assessments. William Padula, a health economics professor at the University of Southern California, said Medicaid already has some of the most favorable drug rates, so the MFN discounts for new medicines may not dramatically change what state programs pay relative to the rest of the country. Still, he called the moves a potential sign of increased health equity, given that some patients rely on Medicaid or have little leverage to negotiate prices. "It can’t be bad. I don’t see much downside but it’s hard to judge what the upside is," Padula said.

Analysts cautioned that even with significant price reductions, the impact on patient access will take years to measure. The administration asserts the measures could improve access for uninsured patients and those with high out-of-pocket costs, while potentially encouraging more competition and investment in pharmaceutical research and development. The White House notes that the program's success will depend on broader health outcomes and how states, insurers and patients respond to the new pricing structure. The effort also comes after the administration highlighted earlier in the year that 14 companies had agreed to lower prices since Trump publicly urged executives to act, following letters sent to 17 pharmaceutical companies.