RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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President Donald Trump on Monday said he struck new drug pricing deals with nine drugmakers to voluntarily sell their medications for less, building on his push to link the nation's pharmaceutical prices to cheaper ones abroad.
The drugmakers signing the new deals are Alcon, Astellas Pharma, BeOne Medicines, BridgeBio, CSL, Kyowa Kirin, Sun Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals and UCB, according to the White House. Shares of most of those companies closed relatively flat on Monday, while Teva and BeOne fell around 1%.
Under the new deals, the nine companies agreed to provide discounts on outpatient drugs to every state Medicaid program so that prices states pay align with what companies charge in foreign countries. The agreements impact drugs that treat several chronic and rare diseases, such as hemophilia, liver disease, skin conditions and certain forms of cancer.
The companies committed to invest at least $19.6 billion collectively in U.S. manufacturing in the near term, according to the White House.
Astellas, Sun Pharma, Teva and UCB also agreed to donate active pharmaceutical ingredients for key products to the federal government's strategic reserve of those ingredients, which aims to reduce reliance on foreign supply and ensure the U.S. is prepared in the event of an emergency. For example, UCB will contribute 163 tons of levetiracetam, an anticonvulsant used to control and prevent certain types of seizures.
The new agreements bring the Trump administration's total number of drug pricing deals to 26 companies, which the president said represents 90% of the domestic pharmaceutical market. He said the other 10% of the industry is "also coming in" and "have no choice."
Over the past year, the Trump administration reached drug pricing deals with 17 other pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer , Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk , as part of its "most favored nation" policy. Trump signed an executive order in May 2025 to revive that policy, calling for prices to be increased outside of the U.S. and to "end global freeloading."
The deals add to the White House's efforts to spotlight healthcare affordability ahead of the midterm elections.
The "most favored nation" deals that have been signed with the Trump administration have already impacted the commercial strategies, bottom lines and manufacturing pipelines of major pharmaceutical companies.
To insulate themselves from future tariff threats, drugmakers are spending billions of dollars to bring manufacturing capabilities back to the U.S. Companies are also drastically expanding direct-to-consumer channels for their products, including by offering their medicines on the president's TrumpRx portal . Lower prices in the U.S. are weighing on bottom lines, with manufacturers like Novo Nordisk saying that it will take time for prescription volumes to offset the revenue dip.
U.S. prescription drug prices on average are nearly three times higher than they are overseas, according to a 2024 study by Rand Corp. Prices for branded drugs were more than four times higher, the report found.
The trade association PhRMA, which represents many major pharma companies, has previously said that most-favored nation pricing isn't the best way to lower drug costs for Americans and instead blamed pharmacy benefit managers for the price disparity.
The U.S. is the single most important market for many drugmakers, regardless of their home country. Despite being based across the Atlantic, European pharma companies are heavily exposed to the U.S. market, with half of the 10 largest companies on the continent generating a majority of their sales in the U.S.
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