President Donald Trump is putting Big Pharma on notice, giving major drug companies just 60 days to lower their prices or risk the consequences of his administration’s aggressive reforms.
In letters sent to 17 pharmaceutical giants—including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Merck, and Novartis—Trump demanded immediate price reductions for American patients. The letters, which Trump shared on Truth Social, cited the president’s “Most-Favored-Nation” (MFN) executive order, which requires companies to sell drugs in the U.S. for the same price they charge in countries like Germany, the U.K., and Canada.
“American families are paying up to three times more for the same drugs,” Trump wrote. “This unacceptable burden ends with my administration.”
Under the May executive order titled Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients, drug companies must now charge U.S. patients no more than what they accept from foreign governments. The White House says global pricing disparities have allowed foreign nations to “freeload” off American innovation, while U.S. consumers foot the bill.
The letters lay out specific requirements: companies must provide their entire drug portfolios to Medicaid patients at MFN prices, guarantee the same pricing for new drugs, and allow direct consumer purchasing at those rates. In addition, drugmakers are instructed to negotiate with foreign governments to return some of the profits reaped overseas back to American patients.
“Moving forward, the only thing I will accept from drug manufacturers is a commitment that provides American families immediate relief,” Trump said. “The free ride is over.”
If the companies fail to comply by September 29, the Trump administration has threatened to use every available federal tool to crack down on what it calls “abusive pricing practices.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. backed the effort, noting that if foreign governments raised their drug prices even 20%, it could dramatically reduce prices in the United States. “Other nations must begin to pay their fair share for the cost of research and development,” Kennedy said.
The MFN order builds on a broader effort by Trump to decouple U.S. pharmaceutical dependency and reform the global pricing model. Earlier this year, he signed another executive order aimed at slashing regulatory barriers to domestic drug manufacturing.
Alongside the top five drug companies, other recipients of the letter include AstraZeneca, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Regeneron, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Novo Nordisk.
Trump’s latest push represents one of the most aggressive crackdowns on Big Pharma in modern history. While Democrats have talked for decades about lowering prescription costs, Trump has taken concrete action—directly confronting pharmaceutical giants, foreign freeloaders, and government red tape.
The clock is ticking. Pharmaceutical CEOs now have less than two months to decide whether to comply—or face the wrath of a president who’s made it clear: American patients come first.
The post Trump Gives Drug Companies 60 Days To Slash Prices Or Face Consequences: ‘Unacceptable Burden’ appeared first on Real News Now.
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