EU scramble to interpret Trump's new drug pricing order

European governments are examining whether US President Donald Trump can force them to pay more for prescription medicines, after he issued an executive order to lower US drug prices, roiling the global pharmaceutical industry.

- Maggie Fick, Reuters

On Monday, Trump took aim at governments paying a fraction of what Americans have to shell out for their medicines, and directed the use of trade policy to force other nations to pay more for prescription drugs. The Trump administration wants to reduce the gap between US drug prices and those in other developed countries such as many in Europe, where prescription drugs cost, on average, one-third what they do in the United States.

Denmark's industry and business minister Morten Bodskov plans to meet with drugmakers based in his country to discuss the order. He did not give details about the meeting. “The uncertainty (caused) by the US is bad for the world,” he told Reuters. “Danish pharmaceutical companies are among the best in the world and are of great importance to Denmark. The message from Trump does not change that.” The country of six million has benefited from the expansion of Novo Nordisk and the outsize demand for its diabetes drug Ozempic and for Wegovy, one of the powerful new weight-loss drugs singled out by Trump in his push to lower prices. Novo, Europe's third-largest listed company worth 265 billion euros ($295.74 billion), said it looked forward to the meeting.