The Trump administration has struck a deal with EMD Serono to lower drug prices — part of a larger push from the administration to expand coverage and improve affordability for fertility services, officials announced at the White House on Thursday.
The administration’s plan has several components, including the drugmaker pledging to lower drug prices, new benefits rules to encourage employers to offer in vitro fertilization coverage outside of health insurance, and a Food and Drug Administration priority review voucher for another fertility drug not currently available in the U.S.
EMD Serono is the third drugmaker to strike a deal with the president, with announcements from Pfizer and AstraZeneca in recent weeks. EMD Serono has pledged to offer direct-to-consumer sales of its IVF therapies and participate in the TrumpRx purchasing platform in 2026.
EMD Serono, the U.S. subsidiary of German company Merck, manufactures some of the most commonly -prescribed IVF medications, including Gonal-f to stimulate the ovaries to create eggs, Ovidrel to trigger the eggs to release at a specific time, and Cetrotide to prevent premature ovulation.
The new program will make the company’s medications available at an 84% discount compared to list prices, said Libby Horne, senior vice president of U.S. fertility & endocrinology at EMD Serono. Administration officials claimed the deal would result in IVF treatment costs being cut in half.
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Like deals with other pharma companies, EMD Serono will not face national security tariffs that have been looming over the sector, should the company invest in U.S. manufacturing, but it has not yet made a new commitment.
The deal marks the latest move from the administration to lower drug costs through a months-long pressure campaign. But the administration and companies have declined to release the details of their agreements, and experts have been skeptical that the deals before Thursday’s would have a substantial impact on what most Americans pay.
But this was a “special deal,” a senior administration official told reporters before the announcement, because it expands access and lowers costs for a high-demand set of treatments. The agreement was also unique because Trump campaigned on expanding access to IVF, calling for universal coverage without specifics of implementation, even as some Republican-led states pursued laws that threatened IVF access by defining life as beginning at conception.
More pharma companies, which have been scrambling to make a deal with the administration, could see the announcement as offering a new approach to an agreement: putting popular medications at the center of their deals.
One in six people struggle with infertility worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. In vitro fertilization has become the standard procedure for tackling infertility. The treatment involves stimulating the production of eggs, retrieving those eggs, and combining them in a lab dish with sperm to create fertilized embryos. It is an intensive process filled with multiple rounds of medication.
The deal also includes pharmacy benefit managers, administration officials said. CVS Specialty’s fertility pharmacy and Express Scripts Freedom Fertility Pharmacy agreed to “materially reduce their expenses” associated with fertility treatments, officials said, adding that the administration has not made any pledges to the PBMs in return.
I’m a fertility doctor, and I think IVF needs more regulation
Despite becoming more mainstream, IVF has remained out of reach financially for most families. The cost of a single cycle ranges from $15,000 to $30,000, according to estimates from HHS, and insurers have typically considered the treatment to be “medically unnecessary.” Drugs can make up some $2,000 to $7,000 of the cost, according to GoodRx. Genetic testing and donor eggs can make the process more expensive.
Employers are increasingly opting to cover fertility treatments, with 21 states mandating private insurance coverage. But the mandate does not apply to self-insured plans, which includes some 61% of workers. And IVF employer coverage is not mandated in 29 states. Most state Medicaid programs do not cover the service.
The administration officials said there were no ongoing conversations to subsidize IVF coverage through employer-sponsored insurance. Instead, their hope is that lower drug prices and an unbundling of fertility treatments from standard health insurance will offer more incentive — and increased flexibility — for employers to add coverage. The changes in coverage rules from the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services would also help employees potentially spend less out of pocket, the officials argued.
In exchange for leading the way on lowering prices, EMD Serono will receive a priority voucher from the FDA to expedite review of its drug Pergoveris. The drug, like Gonal-f, stimulates the development of egg-producing structures in the ovaries. But it is delivered via fewer injections and might lead to a better patient experience and lower costs, EMD Serono said in a statement. The drug is approved in 74 countries.
The FDA announced the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program in June, pledging to offer speedy drug reviews to companies that align with the Trump administration’s health priorities. The goal is to offer companies a response on their drug submission within one to two months. EMD Serono is the first recipient.
Trump asked employers to offer insurance for IVF going forward, though there is no new requirement to do so.
CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz predicted at the announcement that the new policies would mean more babies going forward — “Trump babies,” he said.
