Trump announces drug price cuts with swipe at Europe
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Drug prices in the US should fall by at least 59 per cent under the new plan.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said on May 12 he would slash drug prices so that they match costs abroad, accusing the “brutal” European Union in particular of forcing pharmaceutical companies to lower prices on its turf.
Mr Trump said as he signed an executive order at the White House that drug prices should fall by at least 59 per cent – and in some cases by as much as 80 per cent or 90 per cent.
Under the plan, Mr Trump aims to implement a “most favoured nation” policy that pins the cost of drugs sold in the US to the lowest price paid by other countries for the same drug.
“Whoever is paying the lowest price, that is the price that we are going to get,” Mr Trump said.
The US President’s plan will count mainly on the goodwill of pharmaceutical companies to negotiate their prices and could face legal challenges, as did a similar proposal Mr Trump pushed during his first term.
Mr Trump said American consumers have been treated like “suckers”, and cited in particular the costs of the obesity-reducing drug Ozempic, which he said are vastly higher than in Europe.
He blasted the EU over drug prices, alleging that the 27-nation bloc forced pharmaceutical companies to lower the costs on their territory.
“It was really the countries that forced Big Pharma to do things that, frankly, I am not sure they really felt comfortable doing, but they have gotten away with it,” Mr Trump said.
“The European Union has been brutal, brutal. And the drug companies actually told me stories, it was just brutal, how they forced them.”
‘Powerful lobby’
Mr Trump said he would also order an investigation into countries that “extort” drug companies by “blocking their products” unless they accept low prices.
But Mr Trump added that he was also “doing this against the most powerful lobby in the world – the drug and pharmaceutical lobby”.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has caused controversy for his scepticism over vaccinations, praised the plan.
“There has never been a president more willing to stand up to the oligarchs than Donald Trump,” Mr Kennedy said, as he stood next to the billionaire property developer.
Mr Trump had trialled the announcement of the 59 per cent cut
“Drug prices to be cut by 59 per cent, plus! Gasoline, energy, groceries, and all other costs, down. No inflation!!!” Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
The reduction in prescription drug costs in the US would be counterbalanced by higher costs in other countries, he added in his post.
The “most favoured nation” status is a World Trade Organisation rule that aims to prevent discrimination between a country and its trading partners, levelling the playing field for international trade.
This is not the first time that Mr Trump has attempted to lower US drug prices.
During his 2017-2021 term in office, he announced a similar proposal to cut US drug prices, but his plans failed in the face of strong opposition from the pharmaceutical industry.
In April, the US President signed an executive order aiming to lower crippling drug prices by giving states more leeway to bargain-hunt abroad and improving the process for price negotiations. AFP
