President Donald Trump announced on Friday that nine of the world’s largest drug manufacturers have agreed to cut prices on most of their flagship drugs.
“Starting next year, American drug prices will come down fast and furious and will soon be the lowest in the developed world,” Trump said during his announcement at the White House, joined by company executives.
American patients currently pay by far the most for prescription medicines, often nearly three times more than in other developed nations, the president said.
The committed companies are Merck, Bristol Myers Squib, Gilead, Agmen, GSK, Sanofi, Roche’s Genentech, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novartis.
The drugmakers have committed to “most-favored-nation” pricing on all new U.S. drug launches across commercial, government, and cash-pay markets, including the U.S. Medicare program for those aged 65 and over.
Whatever cost the drug sells for in the world, Trump said, the companies “will match that price.”
Under the agreements, each drugmaker will cut prices on select drugs sold through the TrumpRx.gov website. In return, companies can receive a three-year exemption from any tariffs as long as they keep investing in U.S. manufacturing.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik stressed that the move aims to increase manufacturing and jobs at home.
Companies are committing hundreds of billions of dollars to bring their manufacturing and research to the United States, which will employ Americans and keep drugs safely produced, according to Lutnik.
“You want to know when you take that drug, that drug is made in America, overseen by the FDA, and it is safe,” Lutnik said. “So the president not only is driving prices down, he’s doing a one-two punch of bringing production here. And the third thing he is doing is when you take that drug, you know that it was made in America, protected by America and it is safe.”
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said Americans will now be able to afford life-saving drugs.
Prices have gone up 25 percent prior to Trump taking office, according to Oz.
“We are reversing that trend,” Oz said.
Merck said it will sell its diabetes drugs Januvia, Janumet, and Janumet XR directly to U.S. consumers at about 70 percent off list prices. If approved, its experimental cholesterol drug enlicitide will also be offered through direct-to-consumer channels.
The president has been pressuring drugmakers to lower their prices to what patients pay elsewhere. Friday’s announcement marks the latest in a series of actions by the federal government to lower prescription drug prices.
In November, Trump announced agreements with pharmaceutical manufacturers Eli Lilly and Company and Novo Nordisk to dramatically reduce the prices Americans pay for some of the world’s most popular drugs.
The agreements align with Trump’s directive that he signed on May 12, 2025, titled “Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients,” which directed his administration to take numerous actions to bring American drug prices in line with those paid by similar nations.