President Donald Trump holds an executive orders on biomedical research safety in the Oval Office of the White House, May 5, 2025. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)
Drug prices have dramatically climbed in recent years.
Prescription drug prices increased more than 15% from January 2022 and January 2023, reaching an average of $590 per drug product, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Of the 4,200 prescription drugs included on that list, 46% of the price increases exceeded the rate of inflation.
Trump’s original executive order signed in May directs the Department of Health and Human Services to establish price targets for pharmaceutical manufacturers. Failure to comply will prompt the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to "undertake enforcement action against any anti-competitive practices," along with other consequences.
Additionally, Trump introduced plans to launch "most favored nations drug pricing."
"The principle is simple – whatever the lowest price paid for a drug in other developed countries, that is the price that Americans will pay," Trump said at the White House in May upon signing the order. "Some prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices will be reduced almost immediately by 50 to 80 to 90%."
"We’re going to equalize," Trump said. "We’re all going to pay the same. We’re going to pay what Europe pays."
Price control occurs when the government steps in to impose limits on how much one can charge for various goods or services in the free market. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Cannon said there are plenty of other avenues that could lead to reduced drug prices, including reforms to Medicaid, Medicare and the tax code. But all those options would involve the legislative branch.
"Those things require Congress, for the most part, and it's hard to get anything through Congress that would reduce wasteful spending in the health sector," Cannon said.
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The White House sent letters to the following drug companies Thursday, advocating for lower drug prices: AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, Genentech, Gilead, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Regeneron and Sanofi.
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trumps-quest-reduce-drug-prices-heating-up-he-able-do-it