WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has said that he will sign a new order to lower the cost of prescription medicines in the US — an amount he claimed is 30% to 80% lower.
The order is said to push American drug prices to the lowest prices paid by other wealthy countries — which could mean big savings for patients.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he would sign the executive order on Monday morning to pursue what is known as “most favoured nation” pricing, or international reference pricing.
The US pays the most in the world for many prescription medicines — often nearly three times what other developed countries pay. Trump has said he wants to narrow that gap but has not yet explained how. His post offered no further detail.
“They will rise throughout the World in order to equalise and, for the first time in many years, bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA!” he said.
“I will be instituting a MOST FAVOURED NATION’S POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World,” Trump added.
Pharmaceutical companies have been anticipating an order that would focus on the Medicare health insurance programme, according to four drug industry lobbyists who said they had been briefed by the White House. Reuters previously reported that such a policy was under consideration.
The drugmakers expect the order to apply to a wider range of drugs than those currently subject to negotiation under President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
That law has enabled Medicare to negotiate prices for 10 drugs, with the new prices set to take effect next year. More medicines were expected to be added to the list later this year.
“Government price setting in any form is bad for American patients,” said Alex Schriver, spokesperson for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America — the top US pharmaceutical lobbying group — when asked about Trump’s planned executive order.
This is not the first time President Trump has tried to link drug prices to those paid abroad. During his first term, a court blocked a proposed international reference pricing scheme.
That earlier proposal — made five years ago — was projected by his administration to save taxpayers more than $85 billion over seven years, reducing America’s annual drug spend of more than $400 billion.
