Donald Trump has pledged to use his enforcement power to cut the prices of prescription drugs in the US to bring them more along with other countries.
The US president said he would sign an order on Monday to “nearly immediate” lower prescription drugs and pharmaceutical prices at “30% to 80%.”
His social media platform Trump wrote on social social, saying on Sunday it was “hard and extremely embarrassing.” He said why drug prices in the US are higher than in many other countries.
“Pharmaceutical companies/pharmaceutical companies say that for many years, all of these costs have been supported by American “sucking cups,” for no reason,” he writes.
He said the US would introduce a “most favourable nation” policy that “pays the same price as the lowest prices in the world.”
Comments sparked the sale of pharmaceutical stock on Monday as profits could be accurate if companies had to lower US prices.
In London, shares in pharmaceutical companies Astrazeneca and GSK fell with early trading at 5% and 3.2%, respectively. Denmark’s Novonordisk stocks have dropped by 7.5% in Copenhagen, creating weight loss and antidiabetic drugs, and Roche Holdings of the Swiss group fell by 3.6%.
In Korea, stocks in SK Biopharmaceuticals and Samsung Biologics fell 2.1% and 4.7% respectively. In Hong Kong, cancer drug maker Beigen has dropped by nearly 9% and innovative biology has dropped by 5.7%.
In Japan, the drug sector index fell by more than 4%, while Indian pharmaceutical stocks also fell.
“We’ve seen a lot of effort into making it a great deal,” said Alex Schliver, senior vice president of American pharmaceutical research and manufacturers. “Government pricing is bad for American patients. When facing increasing competition with China, policymakers need to focus on fixing flaws in the US system.
European drugmakers are urging the EU to allow higher medical prices, warning that without stronger investment incentives, Europe will be further behind the US.
The threat of US tariffs on drugs has prompted many companies to announce domestic manufacturing investments, including Novartis and Roche in Switzerland, and American companies Johnson & Johnson and Gilead Science. Trump has hinted at a corporate reprieve, saying he will be given “a lot of time” to move his operations to the US before facing taxation.
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Trump targeted high drug costs during initial management aimed at capping the prices of certain drugs under Medicare. However, the move fell apart in federal court after a challenge from a drug company.
The US government is already negotiating the price of the most expensive drugs used in Medicare, a federal health insurance program, under Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Medicare covers 66 million Americans, primarily 65 years old and over.
Trump did not specify Sunday whether his executive order would apply to Medicare, Medicaid or other government health programs.
He suggested that industry lobbyists had failed at the White House despite the fact that large pharmaceutical companies and industry associations donated to his inauguration.
“The campaign contributions can be amazing, but not with me. Not with the Republicans. We’re going to do the right thing. Democrats have been fighting for many years,” he said.