US pharma giants seek to dodge Trump’s campaign to lower drug costs
Since last year, Trump has urged major drugmakers to align the prices of key medicines sold in the US with those in other countries, citing disparities he considers unfair. By January, 16 leading global pharmaceutical firms had agreed to lower US prices in return for three years of tariff exemptions.
However, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has indicated that his company is more motivated to halt shipments to European nations than to reduce costs for American consumers.
“Do you reduce the US price to France’s level or stop supplying France? You stop supplying France,” he told reporters at the JPMorgan healthcare conference last week. “So they will be left without new medicine… the system will force us not to be able to accept the lower prices.”
Executives at the same event reportedly also discussed, in private, the possibility of delaying or pulling new drugs from European markets. Daniel O’Day, CEO of Gilead Sciences, noted that his company’s agreement with Trump “really gives us an opportunity to reset” drug pricing worldwide, according to reports.
European nations usually operate centralized, government-managed healthcare systems that negotiate prices nationally, providing them strong leverage to obtain lower costs. In contrast, the US relies on a combination of private insurers and public programs, which historically has led to higher medication prices due to the lack of collective negotiation.
The pressure from the US is expected to “have a significant impact” on Europeans’ access to medicines, potentially more than tariff policies, as stated by pharmaceutical lobbyist Alexander Natz, who represents approximately 2,600 small and medium-sized firms.
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