The Trump administration despatched letters this summer season to 17 makers of name-brand medication 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 obtained letters from the Trump administration this summer season. The letters gave the corporate 60 days to reply to 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 occurring. 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 Individuals pay for name-brand medication and put them in step with what different developed nations pay, which is usually loads much less. There was an government order pushing that concept in Could, however in August the Trump administration wasn’t happy with what it was listening to from the drug firms, so it despatched letters to 17 of them with a listing of calls for – decrease costs in Medicaid, for instance. Launch new medication at costs that match what individuals in different nations are paying. Promote some medication on to shoppers at decrease costs.
That stated, this may all be voluntary, however the letters carried a risk saying, quote, “for those who refuse to step up, we are going to deploy each software in our arsenal to guard American households from continued abusive drug pricing practices.”
DETROW: So what have the businesses carried out with this?
LUPKIN: So I reached out to all 17 firms that bought a letter. Most did not reply to me or declined to remark. Others touted adjustments in press releases, like Bristol Myers Squibb. It stated it is going to provide its blood thinner Eliquis and a plaque psoriasis drug on to shoppers at a reduction. It additionally says it is going to launch its new schizophrenia drug within the U.Okay. on the identical value it’s within the U.S., which, by the best way, is sort of two grand a month. So no financial savings there for Individuals. However general, it does not sound just like the Trump administration bought the pledges of widespread value reductions it hoped for. Juliette Cubanski is a Medicare drug pricing professional on the nonpartisan analysis group KFF.
JULIETTE CUBANSKI: This administration has a behavior of sort of setting deadlines and blowing previous them with out something actually occurring.
LUPKIN: She says now that the deadline is right here, the administration may 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 shoppers?
LUPKIN: It will take a bit of longer to determine that out. The businesses should still do some issues in response to the administration’s strain, and there are a couple 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 stated that it might elevate the value of its Sort 2 diabetes drug Mounjaro within the U.Okay. 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 a giant theme of this yr.
LUPKIN: The Trump administration is attempting every kind of issues on the identical 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 elevate 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 subsequent few years. However it’s laborious to understand how the Trump administration’s actions will play out as a result of they’re occurring by way of government order and public strain. That is not like laws that will get scored by the Congressional Finances Workplace. In that case, you possibly can see how a lot cash it is going to price or save taxpayers, and we simply do not have that right here.
DETROW: Obtained it. That’s NPR prescribed drugs correspondent Sydney Lupkin. Thanks a lot.
LUPKIN: You guess.
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