WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday announced the next round of pricing deals with drugmakers, with nine new companies joining the 17 that reached agreements with the administration previously.
The new companies striking deals — Alcon, Astellas, BeOne, BridgeBio, CSL, Sun Pharma, Kyowa Kirin, Teva, UCB — made pledges similar to those made by larger drugmakers before them: to sell new medications to U.S. patients at prices comparable to the lowest prices in peer countries, to offer their drugs to state Medicaid programs at “most-favored nation” prices, and, in some instances, to bolster domestic manufacturing and contribute to the U.S. medical stockpiles. In return, it’s believed at least some of the companies will avoid tariffs.
UCB, Sun Pharma, Teva, and Astellas will, together, contribute 290 metric tons of active pharmaceutical ingredients to the country’s strategic reserves as part of the deals. All of the new companies except BridgeBio are headquartered outside of the U.S.
The agreements come after months of biotech and pharma companies have sought deals with the administration to avoid what they see as price controls through Medicare pilot programs that would have linked the cost of drugs in the U.S. to their prices in other countries. Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Monday nine out of 10 drugs prescribed in the U.S. were now covered by the deals.
