Trump to use 'every tool in our arsenal' to force drug manufacturers to cut drug prices in US

President Donald Trump has sent letters to major pharmaceutical manufacturers demanding that they bring down prescription drug prices in the country to match the lowest cost seen in other developed nations.

Among the steps demanded are having manufacturers provide most-favored-nation, or MFN, prices to Medicaid patients and requiring that they "will not offer other developed nations better prices for new drugs than prices offered in the United States," per a White House fact sheet. 

The White House said that manufacturers would be provided with "an avenue to cut out middlemen and sell medicines directly to patients, provided they do so at a price no higher than the best price available in developed nations," and said that the administration will use "trade policy to support manufacturers in raising prices internationally provided that increased revenues abroad are reinvested directly into lowering prices for American patients and taxpayers."

If the manufacturers "refuse to step up," the letters stated, the Trump administration "will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices." 

Manufacturers that received the letter include AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, Genentech, Gilead, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Regeneron, and Sanofi.

The letters stated that action must be taken in the next 60 days. "Make no mistake; a collaborative effort towards achieving global pricing parity would be the most effective path for companies, the government, and American patients. But if you refuse to step up, we will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices."

The White House noted that the United States makes up less than five percent of the world’s population, "yet roughly 75% of global pharmaceutical profits come from American taxpayers," and Americans pay over three times more for brand-name drugs than other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations pay, even after discounts offered in the US. 

This comes after Trump signed an executive order in May titled "Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients," directing the administration to take steps to bring down drug prices. 

"Following the Order, the Administration engaged pharmaceutical manufacturers in discussions to achieve MFN pricing in the United States. Today’s letters indicate that industry proposals have fallen short, and from this point forward, President Trump will only accept from drug manufacturers a commitment that provides American families immediate relief from vastly inflated drug prices and an end to the freeriding by European and other developed nations on American innovations."