In his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump urged Republican leaders to pass legislation cementing his new drug pricing initiatives as he touted his efforts to lower healthcare costs for Americans.
President Donald Trump called on Congress to codify his Most Favored Nation drug pricing initiative into law, as he delivered the State of the Union address at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday evening. He also touted his efforts to lower drug prices and the success of deals with pharma companies that were signed over the fall.
“Under my just enacted Most Favored Nation agreements, Americans who have for decades paid by far the highest prices of any nation anywhere in the world for prescription drugs will now pay the lowest price anywhere in the world for drugs,” Trump said, according to a transcript of the event. “I took prescription drugs, a very big part of healthcare, from the highest price in the entire world to the lowest. That’s a big achievement.”
The White House launched the TrumpRx platform in February, offering select drugs from major pharma companies on a direct-to-consumer basis. Analysts have been skeptical of the program’s ability to lower out-of-pocket costs for patients, as many of the drugs offered were heading for a patent cliff and would be lowered anyway. Other experts also questioned the impact of the program, which would likely only serve uninsured patients or those with high-deductible plans. Most patients would have access to steeper discounts via their regular insurance plans.
Pfizer was the first company to sign an MFN deal last year, soon to be followed by the likes of AstraZeneca, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb and more. The CEOs of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk attended a joint announcement at the White House in November to offer their GLP-1 products, including initial doses of upcoming oral weight loss medicines, for $150. Many of the companies reached the agreements in exchange for exemption from tariffs.
Trump said the TrumpRx platform has lowered drug prices “300, 400, 500, 600 percent and more.” The president specifically pointed to medicines for in vitro fertilization, which are not typically covered by insurance plans. In October, Merck KGaA’s U.S. subsidiary EMD Serono announced an agreement with the U.S. government to broaden access to its fertility medications, including Gonal-F, Ovidrel and Cetrotide.
In his address, Trump called out one patient in attendance who was able to access IVF medications for less, Catherine Rayner. Rayner was the first person to utilize the TrumpRx platform, according to the president.
“One drug has been costing Catherine $4,000 to purchase. But a few weeks ago, she logged on to the website and got that same drug that cost costs $4,000, got it for under $500, a reduction of much more actually than $3,500,” Trump said. “Catherine, we are all praying for you and you’re going to be a great mom.”
With Rayner as an example, Trump urged his Republican leaders in Congress to codify Most Favored Nation drug pricing. “I’m not sure it matters because it’s going to be very hard for somebody that comes along after me to say, let’s raise drug prices by 700 or 800 percent. But John and Mike, if you don’t mind, codify it anyway,” he said, referring to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Trump already urged Congress to address MFN in a January announcement of “The Great Healthcare Plan,” which seeks to take the drug pricing fight to insurers.
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