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The White House announced on Saturday that 14 of the 17 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world agreed to lower the prices of their medications in the United States, as a result of the implementation of the "most favored nation pricing" scheme promoted by President Donald Trump.
In a message published on its official X account, the White House quoted the director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Mehmet Oz, who stated that this policy “aims to be fair to the American consumer.”
According to the message, the agreement is a direct result of a "bold" action by the president.
The announcement comes after an event at the U.S. executive headquarters, where Trump confirmed an initial agreement with nine of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world to provide their most sought-after medications at prices comparable to the lowest paid by other developed countries.
The president stated that the companies committed to applying "most favored nation" pricing in Medicaid and to publishing information about their drugs on the digital platform TrumpRX.gov.
According to the White House, among the companies involved are Pfizer, Amgen, Novartis, Merck, Sanofi, and Bristol Myers Squibb, whose medications could offer discounts of up to 70% for Medicaid beneficiaries and other public health programs.
Trump called the agreement “the greatest victory for patient affordability in the history of American healthcare” and stated that his administration aims to break the price monopoly held by pharmaceutical companies and insurers, whom he accused of benefiting from the healthcare system for decades.
The president also announced that he will call on major insurers to pressure them into lowering prices, in a context marked by legislative stagnation in Congress regarding the renewal of Obamacare subsidies, which currently benefit more than 30 million people.
While Democrats accuse the White House of dismantling the public healthcare system, some Republican sectors argue that Obamacare is unsustainable and has benefited insurers more than citizens.
The new pharmaceutical pricing policy is shaping up to be one of the key elements of Trump's economic agenda for 2026, although there are still doubts about its impact on Americans who do not qualify for Medicaid.
At the end of November, Medicare confirmed a significant reduction in prices for 15 high-cost prescription medications, including some as popular as Ozempic and Wegovy, commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity.
The measure, which will take effect in 2027, resulted from the direct price negotiation program initially driven by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), enacted by the Biden administration in 2022.
According to the CMS, these reductions will result in an estimated saving of 685 million dollars in out-of-pocket expenses for program beneficiaries, as well as 12 billion dollars in federal savings if the new prices had been in effect in 2024.
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