Nine pharmaceutical companies have agreed to slash prices on their flagship drugs for Medicaid recipients and people who buy the medications in cash, rather than through insurance, as part of a new deal with the Trump administration.
The agreement includes prescription drugs for asthma, certain cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hepatitis B and C, HIV, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and Type 2 diabetes, the White House said.
It comes as millions of people are expected to face double-digit increases in their health insurance premiums next year, and as more people are walking away from Affordable Care Act coverage or switching to cheaper plans for 2026.
President Donald Trump announced the deal at a Friday news conference, flanked by executives from each of the nine companies: Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GSK, Merck, Novartis and Sanofi.
“This represents the greatest victory for patient affordability in the history of American health care by far,” Trump said.
The companies will receive a three-year exemption from tariffs in exchange for their commitments, Reuters reported, citing senior administration officials.
“If we didn’t have the use of tariffs, we would never be able to do this,” Trump said.
In a press release, the White House said the list price for Epclusa, a hepatitis C medication from Gilead, will drop from $24,920 to $2,425. Reyataz, an HIV medication from Bristol Myers Squibb, will go from $1,449 to $217, it said. And Plavix, a prescription blood thinner from Sanofi, will decrease to $16 from $756, according to the White House.
Consumers can buy the drugs at those prices through TrumpRX, a direct-to-consumer website operated by the federal government which is expected to launch early next year. The agreement does not, however, affect the prices that people would pay if they go through private insurance plans.
The deal is part of Trump’s broader effort to align the cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. with the lowest prices in other wealthy countries — what’s known as “most favored nation” pricing. Trump signed an executive order in May directing federal officials to implement the pricing model.
A 2024 report from the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit think tank, found that average prescription drug prices in the U.S. are nearly three times higher than in peer countries.
In July, Trump sent letters to 17 large pharmaceutical companies warning of consequences if they refused to lower drug costs. According to the White House, the letters said the federal government would “deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices.”
Before Friday, five other drugmakers — AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, Novo Nordisk and Pfizer — had already struck deals with the Trump administration to lower drug prices.
Trump said Friday that he expects the remaining three drugmakers on the original list — AbbVie, Johnson & Johnson and Regeneron — to make deals, as well. However, no such announcements have been made yet.
