Trump says he asked 17 drugmakers to take steps to cut U.S. prices within 60 days

President Donald Trump connected Thursday said helium asked large pharmaceutical companies to instrumentality steps to chopped U.S. cause prices wrong the adjacent 60 days.

On Truth Social connected Thursday, Trump posted idiosyncratic letters helium sent 17 drugmakers: AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, Genentech, Gilead, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Regeneron, and Sanofi.

Trump threatened to "deploy each instrumentality successful our arsenal to support American families from continued abusive cause pricing practices" if companies garbage to comply. He asked for each institution to perpetrate to his respective goals by Sept. 29.

The letters travel aft Trump successful May signed an enforcement bid reviving a arguable plan, known arsenic the "most favored nation" policy, that aims to slash cause costs by tying the prices of immoderate medicines successful the U.S. to the importantly little ones abroad. It was Trump's latest effort to effort to rein successful U.S. medicine cause prices, which are two to 3 times higher connected mean than those in different developed nations – and up to 10 times much than successful definite countries, according to the Rand Corp., a nationalist argumentation deliberation tank.

In the letters connected Thursday, Trump said drugmakers person projected imaginable solutions for precocious U.S. cause prices. But helium said those proposals "promised much of the same: shifting blasted and requesting argumentation changes that would effect successful billions of dollars successful handouts to the industry."

He said moving forward, helium volition lone judge commitments from drugmakers that supply "American families contiguous alleviation from the vastly inflated cause prices and an extremity to the escaped thrust of American innovation by European and different developed nations." Trump said a collaborative effort towards lowering U.S. cause prices would beryllium the "most effectual path" for companies, the authorities and patients.

Shares of drugmakers fell pursuing the announcement connected Thursday. Shares of Bristol Myers Squibb and Novo Nordisk dropped astir 5%, GSK and Merck's stocks fell much than 3% and shares of Sanofi tumbled much than 8%.

Here are the steps Trump is asking companies to take:

• He called connected drugmakers to supply their afloat portfolio of existing medicines at the lowest terms offered successful different developed nations – oregon what helium calls the most-favored-nation terms – to each azygous Medicaid patient.
• Trump besides asked companies to declaration with the U.S. to warrant that Medicare, Medicaid and commercialized payers person most-favored-nation prices connected each caller drugs upon motorboat and moving forward.
• He called connected companies to negociate harder with what helium called "foreign freeloading nations," adding that U.S. commercialized argumentation volition effort to enactment that effort. He said accrued revenues overseas indispensable beryllium "repatriated to little cause prices" for American patients and taxpayers done an statement with the U.S.
• He asked drugmakers to follow models that merchantability their medicines straight to consumers oregon businesses, which efficaciously eliminates middlemen and aims to guarantee that each Americans get the aforesaid most-favored federation prices that companies connection to third-party payers.

Alex Schriver, elder vice president of PhRMA, the industry's largest lobbying group, said "importing overseas terms controls would undermine American leadership, hurting patients and workers."

The radical added that to trim terms differences with different countries, U.S. officials should "rein successful wellness attraction middlemen driving up costs for Americans and get overseas countries to wage their just stock for innovative medicines." PhRMA is referring to pharmacy payment managers, insurers and different payers.

In abstracted statements, spokespeople for Pfizer, Novo Nordisk and Novartis said they are moving to find solutions that assistance Americans entree and spend drugs they need.

Pfizer said that the company's discussions with the Trump medication and Congress "have been productive." Novartis said it is reviewing the letter.

The announcement comes conscionable days aft AstraZeneca said it has projected terms cuts to definite drugs successful the U.S., and that the Trump medication is considering those proposals. AstraZeneca added that it is considering selling immoderate drugs to patients directly, which is simply a determination that companies similar Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer and Bristol Myers Squibb person adopted arsenic patients conflict to spend drugs successful the U.S.

Drugmakers are besides bracing for the president's planned tariffs connected pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S.