By Tami Luhby, Adam Cancryn, Meg Tirrell, CNN
(CNN) — In his latest effort to lower drug costs, President Donald Trump unveiled Friday “Most Favored Nation” pricing deals with nine more pharmaceutical companies.
The voluntary agreements follow those made with five drugmakers – including the two manufacturers of blockbuster weight loss drugs – as the White House races to expand an initiative that has become a centerpiece of the Trump administration’s health care agenda. The “Most Favored Nation” program calls for drugmakers to price medications sold in the US at the lowest cost available in peer countries.
While Trump and administration officials repeatedly tout that the president’s actions will lead to steep drops in drug prices, many experts are skeptical about how much Americans will benefit.
The drugmakers involved in Friday’s White House event include: Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Genentech, Gilead, GSK, Merck, Novartis and Sanofi. Their medications are taken by hundreds of millions of Americans to treat cancer, diabetes and autoimmune, dermatologic, neurologic, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, a senior administration official told reporters Friday.
“MFN has gone from a bold policy to an industry standard, and it’s happened in record time,” the official said. “What we’ve observed is initial industry hesitance collapsing into cooperation.”
All nine are among the 12 remaining companies that had yet to strike agreements with the administration after Trump sent letters to 17 drugmakers in July with a specific list of demands to reduce prices.
Under the deals, drugmakers have agreed to sell medicines to Medicaid at “Most Favored Nation” prices and to launch new medications in the US at that price point.
The pharmaceutical makers have also agreed to sell certain primary care and specialty medicines on the TrumpRx online platform, which will become operational in January. The website will direct visitors to drugmakers’ direct-to-consumer channels, where their products will be available at a discount to those paying cash and forgoing insurance.
Plus, the nine companies have agreed to invest a total of more than $150 billion in new manufacturing projects and research and development in the US. In exchange, they’ll receive a three-year reprieve on certain tariffs on pharmaceutical imports.
In addition, several of the drugmakers have agreed to donate the active pharmaceutical ingredients, or APIs, needed to make certain critical medications to a national emergency stockpile, which Trump created in his first term. They will also convert the APIs into finished medicines if needed. Most APIs are imported, raising national security concerns.
Trump has touted the deals as major victories in driving down drug prices and alleviating a key cost-of-living concern. Yet so far, the agreements only cover a tiny percentage of drugs available in the US — and it remains unclear whether they will translate into meaningful discounts for Americans. Part of the issue is that details remain scarce, experts say.
Drugmakers have been willing to do these deals because they realize that they are “largely inconsequential” to their profit margins, said Chris Meekins, managing director of health policy research at Raymond James.
The TrumpRx direct-to-consumer portal may help some folks who can afford to pay cash for medications, but the vast majority of Americans will find it less exp