Trump’s next plan to lower US drug prices: Raise them in other countries

President Donald Trump wants drugmakers to lower their prices in the US — so he’ll push them to raiseprices in other countries to offset the hit to their bottom line,Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Friday. “The president’s going to say that you drug manufacturers cannot sell here unless you sell there at a higher price. Stop being willing to sell to them at such a low price,” Lutnick said Friday on “The Axios Show.” Lutnick’s comments are the latest in a series of pronouncements by the Trump administration aimed at pressuring pharmaceutical companies to reduce drug prices for Americans. The president’s main effort centers on getting drugmakers to offer the same price in the US as they do in Europe and other peer countries, the so-called “Most Favored Nation” price. Trump has repeatedly said that US patients are subsidizing their counterparts elsewhere. Americans paidnearly three timesas much for medications as did people in comparable countries in 2022. However, experts have questioned Trump’s authority to dictate drug prices in other countries or force companies to sell at certain prices in the US. Any mandate would likely be met with legal action. Trump tried to force “Most Favored Nation” pricing on the pharmaceutical industry near the end of his first term,finalizing a rulefor a model program in which Medicare would pay the that price for 50 drugs administered in doctors’ offices. But the initiative was quickly blocked in court on procedural grounds and later rescinded by the Biden administration. In May, he revived the effort with anexecutive orderthat warned drug manufacturers to offer US patients the lowest price paid for a drug in a peer country or face repercussions. He castigated the European Union at the time for forcing drugmakers to provide their products at low prices, saying, “the game is up, sorry.” Unhappy with the results of subsequent negotiations between the industry and his administration, Trumpwrote lettersin late July to 17 major pharmaceutical CEOs. In the letters, Trump called for manufacturers to extend “Most Favored Nation” pricing to all drugs provided to Medicaid enrollees and demanded that the companies guarantee that Medicaid, Medicare and commercial-market insurers pay such prices for all new drugs. Plus, he pushed drugmakers to sell certain medications directly to consumers at “Most Favored Nation” prices, cutting out other players in the supply chain that can keep costs elevated. His pressure campaign has yet to yield significant results in the US. Still, Trump is vowing to levy tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, particularly on pricey brand-name medicines. Some industry experts have said that it’s more likely that drugmakers will raise prices in other countries than lower them in the US. Last month, Eli Lilly announced it wouldhike the priceof its weight-loss drug Mounjaro in the United Kingdom in order to reduce its cost in the US. “This rebalancing may be difficult, but it means the prices for medicines paid by governments and health systems need to increase in other developed markets like Europe in order to make them lower in the US,” the company said in a statement at the time. CNN has reached out to the European Commission and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the industry’s main trade association, for comment. PhRMA has praised Trump in the past for pushing foreign governments to pay their “fare share for medicines. U.S. patients should not foot the bill for global innovation.” But it has also warned that forcing drugmakers to sell their products at “Most Favored Nation” prices in the US would hurt investment in research.