President Donald Trump of the USA has sent letters to the drug company CEOs demanding they lower their drug prices. The letters that have been posted by Trump on social media Say name-brand drug prices are almost three times higher on average as compared to anywhere else when it comes to identical medicine.
In the letter, he added that this is an unacceptable burden that is imposed on hard-working American families and it ends with his administration. Apparently, the letters were sent to 17 companies and are identical. They give companies 60 days so as to lower their drug prices by way of most favored nation—MFN pricing as explained within the executive order, which is titled ‘Delivering Most Favored Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients.’
It is well to be noted that the executive order, which was signed in May 2025, goes on to order companies to sell drugs in the United States for the same price that has been charged in the foreign countries. The order also says that companies charge Americans more when it comes to drugs because drug manufacturers deeply discount products so as to access the foreign markets and also subsidize that decrease by way of placing enormously high prices in the United States.
Both the order and the letters direct the companies to charge as per the MFN prices in America. Some of the companies that have received the letters are the likes of Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Novartis, AbbVie, and Eli Lilly.
The letter has asked the companies to provide their full portfolio when it comes to drugs at MFN prices for Medicaid patients, also guarantee MFN prices for the new drugs, negotiate with freeloading nations in order to return increased revenues to the American patients, and enable direct purchasing of drugs when it comes to MFN prices. In the letter, Trump went on to say that marching forward, the only thing he will accept from drug manufacturers is a commitment that offers American families immediate relief from the massively inflated drug prices and an end to the free ride when it comes to American innovation by European as well as other developed nations. It is well to be noted that companies happen to have time till September 29 in order to implement the terms from Trump.
Interestingly, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Health and Human Services secretary in May 2025, had said that other nations should participate for R&D. He said that raising prices in other nations by 20% would indeed drastically decrease the cost within the US.
Notably, Trump had signed another executive order earlier in May 2025 in order to decrease the regulatory burden on domestic production when it comes to critical medicines. Trump, in that order, had said that if drug manufacturers refuse to step up, he will roll out every tool in the arsenal to save the American families from continued drug pricing practice abuse.
Other companies that have received the letters are AstraZeneca, Bristol Meyer Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, EMD Serono, GSK, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Gilead Sciences, Sanofi, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.
