WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Donald Trump has signed an Executive Order to bring the prices of prescription drugs in line with those paid by similar nations.
The Order directs the U.S. Trade Representative and Secretary of Commerce to take action to ensure foreign countries are not engaged in practices that purposefully and unfairly undercut market prices and drive price hikes in the United States.
The Order instructs the Administration to communicate price targets to pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services will establish a mechanism through which patients can buy their drugs directly from manufacturers who sell to Americans at a 'Most-Favored-Nation' price, bypassing middlemen.
If drug manufacturers fail to offer most-favored-nation pricing, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will propose rules that impose most-favored-nation pricing; and take other aggressive measures to significantly reduce the cost of prescription drugs to the American consumer and end anticompetitive practices.
According to recent data, the prices Americans pay for brand-name drugs are more than three times the price other OECD nations pay, even after accounting for discounts manufacturers provide in the U.S.
Drug manufacturers discount their products to gain access to foreign markets and then subsidize those discounts through high prices charged in America, the White House said. Americans are subsidizing drug-manufacturer profits and foreign health systems, despite drug manufacturers benefiting from generous research subsidies and enormous healthcare spending by the U.S. Government.
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