President Donald Trump on Monday announced agreements with nine additional drug manufacturers as part of his administration's effort to lower prescription drug costs. The agreements are part of the administration's "Most Favored Nation" (MFN) drug pricing initiative, which seeks to align U.S. prescription drug prices with the lowest prices paid in other developed countries. The White House said the new deals bring the total number of participating drugmakers to 26 and cover approximately 89 percent of the branded pharmaceutical market.
Trump has made medication costs a core part of his health care policy during his second term, with Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. telling reporters in the Oval Office that the president has said their jobs depended on achieving his goal of lower costs for consumers. The companies include Alcon, Astellas Pharma, BeOne Medicines, BridgeBio, CSL, Kyowa Kirin, Sun Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals and UCB.
As part of the deals, several companies committed to maintain supply reserves and lower costs for specific medicines, including UCB's seizure treatment levetiracetam, Astellas' transplant drug tacrolimus, Sun Pharma's antibiotics clindamycin and doxycycline, and Teva's metronidazole and blood pressure medication amlodipine. The agreements also cover treatments for conditions including hemophilia, Parkinson's disease, glaucoma, macular degeneration and certain cancers. According to the White House, the manufacturers have agreed to provide MFN pricing to state Medicaid programs and to ensure future innovative medicines are offered to Americans at prices comparable to those available in other developed nations.
The administration said the agreements could generate billions of dollars in savings for Medicaid and patients. The White House did not initially provide a complete list of affected medicines. Instead, it said the agreements cover products used to treat a range of costly and chronic conditions, including: This is a breaking news article.
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