Pfizer first to agree to TrumpRx drug discounts in exchange for tariff relief
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The news: US President Donald Trump has announced a multi-pronged deal with Pfizer to lower US drug prices and provide the company with a three-year grace period from pharmaceutical tariffs.
Pfizer will participate in a new direct purchasing platform called TrumpRx.gov, offering what the company said in a press release would be a “large majority” of its primary care treatments and “some select specialty brands” at “savings that will range as high as 85% and on average 50%”.
At a press conference in the Oval Office, Trump said Pfizer would “offer all of their prescription medications to Medicaid” (the public health insurance program for low-income Americans) at “most-favored nations prices”. Pfizer also said it had agreed to price newly launched medicines “at parity with other key developed markets”.
In return, Pfizer said the agreement would make it eligible for a three-year exemption from tariffs linked to the Trump administration’s national security investigation into pharmaceutical imports.
The context: The deal makes Pfizer exempt from 100% tariffs announced last week unless a company is building a manufacturing plant in the US. It comes after Trump in July sent letters to 17 major drug companies instructing them to commit, by 29 September, to offering US drug prices in line with those charged in other wealthy countries.
Pfizer is the first to announce a deal. The company also announced it would invest USD70 billion ($105.8 billion) over the “next few years” in research, development and capital projects in the US.
The White House said more companies are expected to finalise similar agreements in the coming weeks.
Shares of Pfizer rose over 6% after the announcement, with other major drugmakers also trading higher.
What they said: “With this agreement in place, Pfizer can fully focus on delivering the next generation of cures, sharpening its focus in the areas where the company’s science, scale and agility can make the biggest difference for patients in areas like oncology, obesity, vaccines, and inflammation and immunology,” the company said in a statement.
Trump to announce direct-to-consumer drug-buying website, TrumpRx: WSJ
The news: The White House is set to unveil a direct-to-consumer website for Americans to buy drugs, dubbed TrumpRx, as well as announce that Pfizer plans to lower prices on several of its medications in the US, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal.
The context: TrumpRx will allow US citizens to pay cash for certain drugs directly from a government website, at a discounted price negotiated by the government. It’s unclear how many drugs would be offered, or whether the website would be useful for the majority of Americans who are already covered by private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, the WSJ reports.
A White House official told the masthead that Trump and CEO of Pfizer Albert Bourla are set to announce the measures later on Tuesday at the White House, which will also include a USD70 billion investment on manufacturing medications in the US.
The official estimated Pfizer’s lowered prices could benefit as many as 100 million patients. “It’s a win for American patients, a win for American leadership, and it’s a win for Pfizer because it provides the certainty and stability we need to continue advancing new breakthrough medicines for patients,” said Pfizer spokeswoman Amy Rose.
The sources: Wall Street Journal, Pfizer, Reuters
