Latest news with #MostFavoredNation
Canada News.Net
7 days ago
- Business
- Canada News.Net
"We will pay as low as the lowest nation in the world," Trump on Most Favoured Nation drug pricing plan
Washington DC [US], August 4 (ANI): US President Donald Trump while speaking to reporters on Sunday (local time), said that he aimed to lower the prices of pharmaceutical drugs with the Most Favoured Nation prescription drug pricing plan. Trump said before boarding Air Force One in Allentown, Pennsylvania that the US will pay the lowest price just like other European nations do. 'We want the same price as Europe gets. We want the same price as other countries get ... We will pay as low as the lowest nation in the world. The next big move is going to be the price of drugs because you could buy something in London or in Germany some place... sometimes 1/10th the price of what it costs to buy it in New York... We're not doing that anymore,' he said. Trump is increasing pressure on major drugmakers to bring their US prices in line with the far lower ones available to patients in other countries. However, industry experts don't expect the pharmaceutical companies to comply, CNN reported. Earlier on Thursday, Trump sent letters to 17 major pharmaceutical company CEOs on with a list of demands, including that the manufacturers extend 'Most Favored Nation' pricing, the lowest price paid for a drug in a peer country, to all drugs provided to Medicaid enrollees. The US president gave the companies 60 days to comply. The directive stems from an executive order Trump signed in May, when he demanded drugmakers start offering US patients lower prices or face consequences. Meanwhile the US President continued to bat for the tariff policy saying that it would bring down debt. 'We're going to pay down debt. We have a lot of money coming in, much more money than the country's ever seen, by hundreds of billions of dollars... we should've done this many years ago,' he said. (ANI)
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Business Standard
01-08-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Trump demands pharma companies slash US prices in blow to industry
By Madison Muller, Damian Garde and Robert Langreth President Donald Trump escalated his campaign to pressure pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices, sending letters to 17 of the world's largest drugmakers demanding they charge the US what other countries pay for new medicines. In the letters, sent to Eli Lilly & Co., Novo Nordisk A/S, Pfizer Inc. and others, Trump insisted companies immediately lower what they charge Medicaid for existing drugs. He also asked them to guarantee that future medicines be launched and remain at prices on par with what they cost overseas. Trump gave the companies 60 days to voluntarily comply, threatening to 'deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices' if they don't. The pharmaceutical industry has long protested the idea of globally linked drug prices as a threat to years of US dominance in biomedical research, sapping the incentive to invent new therapies and preventing patients from getting medicines they need. Executives have urged the administration to instead turn its attention to the middlemen in the pharmaceutical supply chain, who negotiate prices on behalf of employers. After Trump's latest demands, individual companies issued statements touting their willingness to work with the administration on access and affordability. The industry's largest trade group, however, took a stronger stance against the proposed changes. 'Importing foreign price controls would undermine American leadership, hurting patients and workers,' said Alex Schriver, a spokesman for PhRMA. Losing to China He reiterated calls to rein in pharmacy benefit middlemen and take on foreign countries shirking their responsibility, and raised the specter of losing ground to China, an area of concern to Trump. 'At a time when China is threatening to overtake the US in biopharmaceutical leadership, we need to ensure America continues to be the most attractive place in the world to develop innovative medicines,' he said. 'Although today's announcement carries some headline shock, we continue to view it as unlikely the Trump administration will be able to successfully implement these policies,' said BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman in a note. In some cases Trump is 'likely lacking legal standing to execute on what he outlines.' Trump's drugmaker demands: Provide their full portfolio of medicines at a Most Favored Nation rate for every patient on Medicaid, the US government program for low-income Americans Guarantee the lowest MFN rate for all newly launched medicines given to patients on Medicaid, Medicare and commercial insurance plans Negotiate harder with 'foreign freeloading nations' who pay less for their medicines and return those gains to the US in the form of lower drug prices for Americans through an explicit agreement with the government Offer direct purchase opportunities to consumers and businesses for high-volume drugs that currently qualify for significant rebates from drug managers, so all Americans can get the same low prices offered to third-party payers In Thursday's letter, Trump said he would use US trade policy to help drug companies negotiate higher prices with other nations but demanded the proceeds be used to lower drug costs for Americans. Companies would also have to offer certain widely used medicines directly to patients, offering them at prices that match discounts that drugmakers now give to third-party insurers. It's not clear whether Trump's latest demands would actually save US consumers money, as the proposal mostly affects newly launched drugs. Additionally, drugmakers are already required to provide substantial discounts on their drugs in order to participate in the Medicaid program. While the pharmaceutical industry has largely resisted Trump's prodding, there are some signs of bending. AstraZeneca Plc's Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot broke ranks with his pharmaceutical industry peers earlier this week and acknowledged the current situation was unsustainable. AstraZeneca, Amgen Inc., GSK Plc and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. declined to comment. A spokesperson for Lilly said the company was still reviewing the letter. A Novo spokesperson said it 'remains focused on improving patient access and affordability.' Pfizer said it's working with Congress and the White House to increase access, while Merck KGaA said it is open to collaborating with the US government toward the same goal. Trump said drugmakers must commit to providing 'immediate relief' from 'vastly inflated drug prices,' in one of the letters he posted on his social media account, addressed to Lilly Chief Executive Officer Dave Ricks.
Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump doubles down on Most Favored Nation plan to target drug prices
US President Donald Trump has called on pharmaceutical manufacturers to lower US drug prices in line with the Most Favored Nation (MFN) policy first proposed in an executive order in May. On 31 July, the White House said letters were sent to leading pharmaceutical manufacturers like AstraZeneca, AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Regeneron, Novartis, Pfizer, and more, calling on them to take steps to lower drug prices in the US such that they match the lowest prices in other developed countries within the next 60 days. President Trump also shared many of these letters on the social media platform Truth Social. While this is not the first time the administration has floated the MFN policy, this time, the language used to address pharma companies is more aggressive. If the companies do not comply, the order states, the federal government 'will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices.' In response to this statement, a spokesperson for the industry body BIO said, 'We share the Administration's goal of ending foreign freeloading on American innovation. But importing socialist price controls would lead only to fewer new medicines and the rationing of healthcare for Americans and would strengthen and embolden foreign adversaries whose goal is to dominate the world in biotechnology.' The BIO spokesperson said eliminating the middlemen, ending the abuse of drug reimbursement programs like 340B would be a way to simplify the system, protect patients and narrow the pricing gap between the US and other developed countries. 'Middlemen' or pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are often blamed by the pharmaceutical companies for high drug prices. PBMs on their part have said they negotiate with different stakeholders to drive down costs, and pass on savings obtained through rebates and discounts to health plans. The letter to the manufacturers implores them to provide drug at 'MFN rates' to all Medicaid patients, and commit to providing these prices for newly launched drugs to all major US buyers like Medicare and commercial plans. The latest announcement also calls on drug manufacturers to opt in for platforms where drugs can be sold directly to patients at prices that are comparable to those in developed nations, which are currently offered to third party payers. Among the letters posted on Truth Social, Trump directly called on several CEOs like Albert Bourla of Pfizer, and Leonard Schleifer of Regeneron, by using their first names instead of a formal address. Several countries use international reference pricing as a strategy in their health systems. However, chief among the criticism following the May executive order has been the lack of details. Industry experts have highlighted a lack of clarity on how any potential list price changes will affect the prices patients pay at the pharmacy counter given the complex dynamics and multiple stakeholders in the US healthcare system. There is also a concern that if the US implements reference pricing, it could influence when companies choose to launch drugs in certain ex-US markets to avoid those potentially lower prices from being used as references. Furthermore, pharma companies have chosen the litigation route to fight legislative changes targeting drug prices, like the Inflation Reduction Act, and the same could be seen with the MFN executive order, as per a Bank of America report. "Trump doubles down on Most Favored Nation plan to target drug prices" was originally created and published by Pharmaceutical Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. 登入存取你的投資組合
Epoch Times
31-07-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Trump Issues 60-Day Deadline for Drug Makers to Lower Prices
President Donald Trump has told CEOs of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies that he expects them to implement Most Favored Nation drug pricing within 60 days. The president sent letters to 17 drug makers, including several headquartered overseas, announcing that he would 'deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices.'
Bangkok Post
21-07-2025
- Business
- Bangkok Post
Thailand 'can't match' Vietnam's US tariff proposals
Thailand cannot offer the same kind of trade proposals to the United States as Vietnam did, warns Somjai Phagaphasvivat, an expert in international economics, who added that Vietnam was able to remove tariffs on all US imports because it has free trade agreements (FTAs) with 27 countries, which have already reduced most of Vietnam's import tariffs to zero. In contrast, Thailand is unlikely to do the same, because it has FTAs with fewer countries than Vietnam does, he said. "Nevertheless, one thing we must consider is that, at some point, we may have to do what Vietnam did in the future. We will need to enhance our competitiveness, and when the time comes and we have more FTAs with other countries, we'll be able to open up fully," said Mr Somjai. According to Mr Somjai, in the current negotiations with the US, the goal is to lower Thailand's import tariffs on US goods to 0% to as great a degree as possible. However, in his view, the proposed tariff reductions will likely fall into three groups: goods taxed at the Most Favored Nation (MFN) rate, goods for which tariffs will be reduced below the MFN rate but not yet to 0%, and goods for which tariffs will be reduced to 0%. The products for which import tariffs should be reduced to 0% ought to be those that Thailand does not produce domestically or can only produce in limited quantities, he said. Mr Somjai added that US President Donald Trump's tariff policy was not just about reducing the US trade deficit with other countries, but also about linking security issues with trade policy, possibly interfering in domestic politics in other countries to serve as a mechanism for expanding US influence in the region, which would have an impact on China. Nevertheless, Mr Somjai, who has closely followed geopolitical issues in the region for a considerable time, said that by linking security concerns with trade issues, the US probably knows deep down that Thailand cannot comply, but it does so to increase bargaining power -- similar to how the US imposed a 50% import tariff on Brazil to pressure the Brazilian president into releasing a former president who was allied with the US and under prosecution -- an act viewed as interference in another country's domestic politics. Recently, there was an unconfirmed report that the US requested to use a naval base in Phang Nga province as a strategic base to control the Strait of Malacca, a key route for oil transportation, which would directly impact China. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Pichai Chunhavajira said on July 14 that he "would not bring trouble into the house" and admitted that negotiations with the US on tariff issues also involve geopolitical dimensions. Mr Somjai noted that some product categories, if import tariffs were reduced to 0%, could affect domestic industries. It may be necessary to negotiate terms, such as allowing such imports at a 0% rate but within a specified quota, and also potentially relaxing product standards -- depending on how much flexibility Thailand is willing to give to the US. Additionally, on non-tax issues, he said the US has pressured several countries to open up their government procurement processes, allowing US companies to participate more extensively in bidding for public sector projects.
