Trump Plans to Tackle Big Pharma and Reduce Drug Prices by 80%

President Donald Trump issued a broad executive order aimed at lowering prescription drug prices in the United States by up to 80%. The order establishes a "most-favoured-nation" (MFN) pricing model, which ensures that Americans pay no more for medications than comparable developed countries.

Trump claimed that the move was necessary to end the long-standing practice of American consumers subsidizing both foreign healthcare systems and drug companies' profit margins. "Starting today, the United States will no longer subsidise the healthcare of foreign countries... and we'll no longer tolerate profiteering and price gouging from Big Pharma," he tweeted.

What the executive order states:

Most-Favoured-Nation pricing: The order requires that US drug prices match the lowest prices paid in other developed countries. Trump stated, "We will pay the lowest price in the world. We'll get whatever price the lowest bidder offers."

30-Day compliance window: Pharmaceutical companies have 30 days to voluntarily reduce drug prices. Failure to comply may result in regulatory actions, such as the implementation of the MFN pricing model.

Targeting middlemen: The order targets middlemen, such as pharmacy benefit managers, whom Trump accuses of inflating drug costs. He emphasized the need to eliminate these "middlemen" in order to lower prices.

Drug importation: The administration intends to make it easier to import safe, lower-cost prescription drugs from countries such as Canada, with the goal of increasing competition and driving prices down.

The White House executive order outlined the rationale starkly: despite accounting for less than 5% of global population, the United States funds nearly 75% of global pharmaceutical profits. The order directs officials to take "immediate steps to end global freeloading" and ensure that Americans are no longer forced to pay three times as much for the same medicines manufactured in foreign factories. Americans, Trump claimed, "deserve low-cost pharmaceuticals on the same terms as other developed nations."

The order also authorizes direct-to-consumer drug sales at the most-favored-nation price and directs federal officials to press foreign governments and drugmakers to stop lowering drug prices below fair market value. "We are going to do the right thing," Trump stated.