The Trump administration despatched letters this summer time to 17 makers of name-brand medicine pushing them to decrease costs to align them with what different nations pay. The businesses had 60 days to “step up.”
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Time is up for 17 drugmakers that acquired letters from the Trump administration this summer time. The letters gave the corporate 60 days to answer the administration’s calls for to decrease their costs. NPR prescribed drugs correspondent Sydney Lupkin is right here to fill us in on what’s taking place. Hello, Sydney.
SYDNEY LUPKIN, BYLINE: Hello, Scott.
DETROW: So remind us, what does the administration need from these firms?
LUPKIN: Yeah, the principle purpose is to decrease the costs People pay for name-brand medicine and put them in step with what different developed nations pay, which is often quite a bit much less. There was an govt order pushing that concept in Could, however in August the Trump administration wasn’t glad with what it was listening to from the drug firms, so it despatched letters to 17 of them with an inventory of calls for – decrease costs in Medicaid, for instance. Launch new medicine at costs that match what folks in different nations are paying. Promote some medicine on to customers at decrease costs.
That mentioned, this could all be voluntary, however the letters carried a menace saying, quote, “in case you refuse to step up, we are going to deploy each instrument in our arsenal to guard American households from continued abusive drug pricing practices.”
DETROW: So what have the businesses accomplished with this?
LUPKIN: So I reached out to all 17 firms that obtained a letter. Most did not reply to me or declined to remark. Others touted modifications in press releases, like Bristol Myers Squibb. It mentioned it should provide its blood thinner Eliquis and a plaque psoriasis drug on to customers at a reduction. It additionally says it should launch its new schizophrenia drug within the U.Ok. on the similar value it’s within the U.S., which, by the best way, is nearly two grand a month. So no financial savings there for People. However total, it would not sound just like the Trump administration obtained the pledges of widespread value reductions it hoped for. Juliette Cubanski is a Medicare drug pricing knowledgeable on the nonpartisan analysis group KFF.
JULIETTE CUBANSKI: This administration has a behavior of type of setting deadlines and blowing previous them with out something actually taking place.
LUPKIN: She says now that the deadline is right here, the administration might need to pivot to laws or rulemaking to get what it desires.
DETROW: So what’s our sense at this second about what this implies for customers?
LUPKIN: It may take a bit longer to determine that out. The businesses should do some issues in response to the administration’s stress, and there are a number of actions already, however they may not translate to decrease costs at U.S. pharmacy counters. For instance, after getting its letter in August, Eli Lilly mentioned that it will increase the value of its Sort 2 diabetes drug Mounjaro within the U.Ok. And Lilly was clear in its announcement this was principally due to the Trump administration. However that does not essentially imply the value will go down right here within the U.S.
DETROW: Then how do tariffs match into all of this? As a result of that is been such an enormous theme of this yr.
LUPKIN: The Trump administration is attempting all types of issues on the similar time. It is pushing to get drug firms to construct factories within the U.S. by tariffing some drug imports beginning subsequent month, and that might increase costs. Steve Ubl, the CEO of the drug firm commerce group PhRMA, wrote that its members dedicated to spending 500 billion on infrastructure within the U.S. over the following few years. But it surely’s exhausting to understand how the Trump administration’s actions will play out as a result of they’re taking place by way of govt order and public stress. That is not like laws that will get scored by the Congressional Finances Workplace. In that case, you’ll be able to see how a lot cash it should value or save taxpayers, and we simply haven’t got that right here.
DETROW: Obtained it. That’s NPR prescribed drugs correspondent Sydney Lupkin. Thanks a lot.
LUPKIN: You guess.
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