Trump Administration Strikes Drug Pricing Deals With 9 Pharma Firms Including Sun Pharma, UCB

As part of the deal, the companies will provide discounts on outpatient drugs to state Medicaid programs so that the prices states pay align with what the companies charge in foreign countries. Participation by state Medicaid programs is optional.

The announcement is the latest installment in a string of splashy White House events with pharmaceutical executives and President Donald Trump aimed at spotlighting healthcare affordability ahead of the midterm elections.

Trump said in a White House event on Monday that pharmaceutical companies "make most of their money from the United States, meaning they're ripping us off. But not any longer."

The agreements also included Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Astellas Pharma Inc., Alcon, BeOne Medicines Ltd., CSL Ltd. and Kyowa Kirin Co.

The president claimed the additions mean 26 companies representing 90% of the domestic pharmaceutical market have signed on to the administration's most-favored nation discounts and that "the other 10% are coming in - they have no choice," he added.

The companies also agreed to launch new medicines in the US at prices in line with those charged in other developed countries, the White House said.

Collectively the nine new companies committed to $19.6 billion in US manufacturing investments "in the near term," according to a White House fact sheet. Several companies also committed to provide active pharmaceutical ingredients for the nation's strategic reserve.

Companies independently disclosed additional terms of the agreements, including relief from tariffs of as much as 100% on certain imported patented medicines and exemptions from forthcoming pilot programs forcing discounts in Medicare.

CSL said in a written statement that its agreement provides the company "with additional certainty regarding its exposure to US drug pricing" and certain tariffs. CSL doesn't expect "any material impact" during fiscal year 2027.

A spokesperson for BeOne said its agreement exempts the company's medicines from two upcoming pilot programs testing price reductions in Medicare for physician-administered and pharmacy drugs.

Starting last year, the administration struck so-called most-favored nation drug-pricing deals with 17 large pharmaceutical companies including pharma giants like Pfizer Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. Those companies agreed to reduce prices for federal health insurance programs and offer their medications on a Trump-branded website in exchange for tariff relief.

The deals do not address costs for the more than 160 million people in the US with employer-sponsored insurance. Companies are facing rising healthcare costs and are passing those costs on to employees with higher monthly premiums and less generous benefits.

It's also unclear how much the agreements would save the federal government or low-income and disabled patients who participate in the Medicaid program, which already gets substantial discounts from manufacturers by law. Patients in the program often don't pay much out of pocket for prescriptions.

But researchers affiliated with Harvard Medical School and the Urban Institute estimated that the Trump administration could save money if drugmakers agreed to offer Medicaid prices similar to those they charge abroad.

They said the administration's Medicaid drug pricing pilot could save states more than $8 billion annually if it were applied to 82 high-cost, brand-name drugs in an analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in July.

Policies included in Trump's tax and domestic policy law last summer, including cuts to Medicaid funding, are expected to cause 10 million people to lose insurance through 2034, congressional analysts estimate.