The White House announced Friday that nine additional pharmaceutical companies have agreed to follow President Trump’s “most favored nation” (MFN) drug pricing policy. Some companies threw in several months’ worth of emergency drug supplies.
The deals are the latest in a string of agreements the White House has announced with drugmakers. The goal is to force them to lower prices so the US pays what other countries pay.
“This represents the greatest victory for patient affordability in the history of American health care, by far,” Trump said at an Oval Office press conference. “The pharmaceutical companies were difficult, but they also love our country. They knew it was unfair, but they were great.”
During a White House event rolling out the agreements, Trump thanked by name the CEOs of Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co., Novartis, and Sanofi.
The executives offered praise for Trump and his efforts at bringing down prices, despite the industry’s longstanding opposition to what they consider price controls.
The tariffs are killing their profits. The lowering of prices means lower tariffs, and that is more profitable.
“This is no longer a trickle. This is a flood. MFN has gone from a bold policy to an industry standard, and it’s happened in record time,” a senior administration official said in a briefing.
President Trump has achieved what politicians have been trying to do for years.
He used the power of tariffs to force Big Pharma to lower drug prices for the American people.
Today, nine major pharmaceutical companies agreed to Most-Favored-Nation pricing. Starting next year,… pic.twitter.com/TDBpOJn7wP
— Howard Lutnick (@howardlutnick) December 19, 2025
The PBMS, the Horrible Middleman
In August, the Trump administration sent letters to 17 leading pharmaceutical manufacturers outlining steps to bring down prescription drug prices in the United States to match the lowest price offered in other developed nations (known as the most-favored-nation).
One of the best points made is that it eliminates the middleman. That will lower prices.
Providing manufacturers with an avenue to sell pharmaceuticals direct to patients — without middlemen, at low costs, and without the influence of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).
PBMs add major costs to drugs, as do health insurers, who are incentivized to do so by stipulations in Obamacare.
In January, Trump denounced the $557 billion industry as “horrible middlemen,” responsible for—and “rich as hell” from— America’s incomparably high prescription drug prices. He vowed to get rid of them. They are supposed to regulate prices and do the opposite while carving off pieces of the funds for themselves.
In May, Senate Majority Leader John Thune says that President Trump’s Executive Order lowering Prescription Drug prices by 30-80% is “fairly controversial” if passed by Congress. In other words, they might not codify it. They might want Americans to pay ten times more for drugs than the rest of the world. These are drugs that US companies create.
The US is 4% of the world’s population and pays 75% of Big Pharma’s revenue.
Currently, the House is committed to reforming PBMs. They have introduced a comprehensive reform PBMs bill.
The Executive Order
President Trump issued an executive order aimed at deeply cutting prescription drug costs. The order demands favored nation drug pricing and the end of freeloading.
Republican lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (S.D.) and Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso (Wyo.), have warned in the past that directing the federal government to set drug prices will slow innovation and limit patients’ access to lifesaving therapies.
The alternative is that they could lower their enormous profits.
It could set a dangerous precedent of government determining prices, but for now, it’s working well, and the prices were unfair and extreme. We were paying for the world.
For those commentators that always complain, take notice! The Trump administration is doing wonderful things for the average American!
The government is now by far the biggest shill for big pharma and drug pusher in the US. He still wont admit that being responsible for warp speed was a complete failure on every level. No one’s being held accountable for the death and destruction. Worse yet is that he didn’t even elect to use American companies, it’s all foreign… Read more »