Sept. 30 (UPI) — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he has secured a deal with drugmaker Pfizer to lower its prescription prices.
The White House also announced a new direct-to-consumer website to sell medications at discounted rates, calling it TrumpRX, the administration said in a statement. The president didn’t elaborate on how it will work.
“This is a really big announcement,” Trump said. “This is something that most people said was not doable.” He said more deals with drugmakers would follow.
Trump signed an executive order in May to get “most-favored nation status” with pharmaceutical companies, and the administration has been negotiating with drug companies since then.
“Starting today, the United States will no longer subsidize the healthcare of foreign countries, which is what we were doing,” Trump said at the time. “They paid a small fraction for the same drug we pay many, many times more for.”
Today’s deal only applies “to one company and one program,” Drew Altman, president and CEO of KFF, a health policy research group, told NBC. “Most Americans buy drugs through their insurance plan, so that would mainly help the uninsured.”
The status means that “foreign nations can no longer use price controls to freeride on American innovation by guaranteeing MFN prices on all new innovative medicines Pfizer brings to market,” a White House fact sheet said. “The agreement requires Pfizer to offer medicines at a deep discount off the list price when selling directly to American patients.”
The fact sheet lists three examples of Pfizer’s medications and their discounts:
Eucrisa, a topical ointment for atopic dermatitis, will be made available at an 80% discount to patients purchasing directly. Eucrisa retails at $856.80, according to Amazon Pharmacy, bringing it down to $171.36.Xeljanz, an oral medication for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ulcerative colitis, will be available at a 40% discount. Xeljanz retails at $6,559.20 per month. With a 40% discount, the price will be $3,935.52 per month. Zavzpret, a treatment for migraines, will be sold at a 50% discount. Zavzpret retails at $1,223.64, making it $611.82.
“In case after case, our citizens pay massively higher prices than other nations pay for the same exact pill, from the same factory, effectively subsidizing socialism aboard [abroad] with skyrocketing prices at home,” Trump said in a statement. “So we would spend tremendous amounts of money in order to provide inexpensive drugs to another country. And when I say the price is different, you can see some examples where the price is beyond anything — four times, five times different.”
In July, Trump sent letters to pharmaceutical companies asking them to lower prices within 60 days, the Washington Post reported.
“Democrats talked the talk for decades about drug prices, but only President Trump is actually walking the walk,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement.
Pfizer also said it will announce an $70 billion investment in research and development as well as domestic manufacturing, the White House said.
“It’s a win for American patients, a win for American leadership, and it’s a win for Pfizer because it provides the certainty and stability we need to continue advancing new breakthrough medicines for patients,” said Pfizer spokesman Kit Longley.
“These announcements serve as good PR for the drug companies but are more of a gimmick that only help a very small number of people,” Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University, told NBC.
“Instead, the average American is likely to be harmed by the broader policies pushed by the administration, including a 100% tariff on drugs. This will raise prices for consumers, not lower them.”
Democrats have criticized Trump’s use of executive orders to lower prices and have called for legislation. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., released a report Monday that found 87 drugs increased in price after Trump sent the letters to the manufacturers.
“In his second term, Trump once again says he wants to lower prices on prescription drugs. But prescription drug prices keep increasing,” Sanders wrote in the report.
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