Trump announces lower drug price deals with 9 pharmaceutical firms

As part of the deal, new drugs made by those companies will also be charged at the so-called "most-favoured-nation" pricing across the country on any newly launched medications for all

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US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that nine drugmakers have agreed to lower the cost of their prescription drugs in the US Pharmaceutical companies Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GSK, Merck, Novartis and Sanofi will now rein in Medicaid drug prices to match what they charged in other developed countries.

Drug prices for patients in the US can depend on a number of factors, including the competition a treatment faces and insurance coverage. Most people have coverage through work, the individual insurance market or government programs like Medicaid and Medicare, which shield them from much of the cost.

Patients in Medicaid, the state and federally funded program for people with low incomes, already pay a nominal co payment of a few dollars to fill their prescriptions, but lower prices could help state budgets that fund the programs.

Lower drug prices also will help patients who have no insurance coverage and little leverage to negotiate better deals on what they pay. But even steep discounts of 508 found through the administration’s website could still leave patients paying hundreds of dollars a month for some prescriptions.

William Padula, a pharmaceutical and health economics professor at USC, said Medicaid already has the most favorable drug rates which in some cases will be close to what the “most favored nation” price is so it remains to be seen what other impacts it could have, such as more research and development.