Trump announces drug pricing deal with AstraZeneca
President Trump announced Friday that another major pharmaceutical company has agreed to a “most favored nation” (MFN) policy, pledging that the cost to Medicaid patients for its drugs remains on par with the lowest price charged in other countries.
The policy also requires that companies not offer better prices to other developed countries for new drugs, but create a way to sell directly to consumers.
“AstraZeneca, the largest pharmaceutical manufacturer in the United Kingdom, is committed to offering Americans deep discounts on its huge catalog of prescription drugs,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
AstraZeneca will list several of its products on the upcoming TrumpRx.com website, according to Trump. Senior administration officials say the site will begin operating sometime early next year.
Trump was joined by AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Director Mehmet Oz, FDA Commissioner Martin McCurry, and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (right).
AstraZeneca this week began construction on a new facility in Virginia, an event attended by Young and Oz.
Trump announced from the Oval Office last week that Pfizer had agreed to meet all four MFN pricing requirements, making it the first drug company to do so. At the time, senior administration officials said talks were continuing with other drug companies.
“All drugs that AstraZeneca offers to the American market in the future will also be sold at these deeply discounted prices,” Trump said on Friday. “Furthermore, AstraZeneca will invest $50 billion in the United States over the next five years to research and develop new medicines and onshore manufacturing facilities across the country, such as the new plant that broke ground yesterday in Charlottesville, Virginia.”
The development would exempt AstraZeneca from the 100 percent tariffs that the Trump administration has threatened to impose on drugmakers who are not in the process of starting or building facilities in the United States.
Kennedy said he and other health officials in the Trump administration were “pessimistic” about Trump’s MFN plan initially.
“When we came in, I have to say I was pessimistic about MFN. Dr. Oz was pessimistic,” Kennedy said, adding that Trump had an idea to create leverage with his tariff threats.
“The president has asked us to do three things. One, get MFN rates. Two, don’t bankrupt these companies. He understands that America has to be a center for innovation,” he added. “The pharmaceutical industry needs innovation…and that’s critical to their bottom line. It’s critical to healthy American people. He also asked us to make sure those companies will deliver on their promises.”
Soriot echoed one of Trump’s frequent criticisms that other countries took advantage of the U.S. portion of Trump’s executive order that directs drug makers to use trade policy to raise prices internationally so that revenues are reinvested in lowering U.S. prices.
“It’s a big win for patients and the health care system as a whole, but it’s also a big win for the economy and taxpayers,” Sorio said.
“Because it supports a rebalancing of the cost of innovation across rich countries. For a long time, America has borne a disproportionate share of the world’s research and development,” he added, referring to research and development. “This imbalance is not sustainable. It had to change, leveling the playing field, with rich countries contributing their fair share of the cost and risks associated with biopharmaceutical R&D.”
Updated at 6:15 PM EST.
