Trump to sign executive order slashing US drug prices by up to 80%
Move will bring ‘fairness to America’ and ‘save trillions,’ president says
ISTANBUL (AA) – US President Donald Trump announced late Sunday that he will sign a sweeping executive order aimed at reducing prescription drug prices by as much as 80%, declaring it one of the “most consequential Executive Orders in our Country’s history.”
“For many years the World has wondered why Prescription Drugs and Pharmaceuticals in the United States of America were SO MUCH HIGHER IN PRICE THAN THEY WERE IN ANY OTHER NATION,” Trump wrote in a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform.
“It was always difficult to explain…The Pharmaceutical/Drug Companies would say, for years, that it was Research and Development Costs,” he said.
He said the executive order would introduce a “Most Favored Nation’s Policy” — a pricing model that ensures the US pays no more than the lowest price charged for the same drug in any other developed country.
“Prescription Drug and Pharmaceutical prices will be REDUCED, almost immediately, by 30% to 80%,” he added.
“They will rise throughout the World in order to equalize and, for the first time in many years, bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA!”
-Experts say move could save Americans billions
The policy echoes an effort from Trump’s first term, when his administration attempted to link Medicare Part B drug payments to prices in other nations.
That plan was blocked in court following a lawsuit from the pharmaceutical industry.
Trump’s revived strategy, previewed last week by NBC News and first reported by Politico, would again target pricing disparities between the US and countries such as Germany, the UK and Canada.
Health policy experts say the move could save Americans billions, though they caution about industry resistance.
“If this can do something about what is clearly an emergency…I’m for it,” said Arthur Caplan, head of the medical ethics division at NYU Langone Medical Center, according to NBC News.
“I don’t see an excuse for why prices should be all over the place, and we wind up getting charged the most,” Caplan said.
NBC News added that Stacie Dusetzina, a professor at Vanderbilt University, expressed skepticism about the policy’s durability: “I am unsure the new executive order will fare any better” than the 2020 version.
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