‘Foreign freeloading nations': Trump takes aim at drug companies in latest threat to PBS
Trump issued letters to the bosses of 17 drug firms on Thursday (Friday AEST) demanding they extend 'most favoured nation' pricing to the US Medicaid scheme, and guarantee that pricing level for new drugs. It means other comparable, high-income nations could not be offered cheaper prices than the US.
'Domestic MFN pricing will require you, and all manufacturers, to negotiate harder with foreign freeloading nations,' Trump wrote in the letters.
'US trade policy will endeavour to support this. However, increased revenues abroad must be repatriated to lower drug prices for American patients and taxpayers through an explicit agreement with the United States.'
The letters were sent to major drugmakers including Pfizer, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, and published on Trump's social media.
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They did not mention Australia but referred to putting 'an end to the free ride of American innovation by European and other developed nations'.
Under the PBS, Australians can buy life-saving drugs worth thousands of dollars for as little as $31.60 a script after the government negotiates with the drug company to secure a lower price based on buying in bulk.
Trump's letter makes explicit instructions to drug firms to 'negotiate harder' and return those extra profits to American patients and taxpayers.
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