Drugmakers push Trump-friendly efforts as deadline to lower prices nears

Pharmaceutical companies are scrambling to make last-minute announcements ahead of a Trump administration deadline on Monday for the firms to lower U.S. drug prices. But it’s not clear if the initiatives — which include investments in the U.S. and new direct-to-consumer models — will meet the president’s expectations.

President Trump in July sent letters to 17 major pharma companies, demanding that they take several actions to lower U.S. drug prices in line with what other countries pay as part of his “most-favored nations” policy.

So far, companies have expressed the greatest enthusiasm for one of the demands in the letters, in particular — that they implement direct-to-consumer models for their drugs, with AstraZenca and Bristol Myers Squibb this week both announcing new offerings. This kind of model, which cuts out insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, is welcomed by the administration but won’t satisfy Trump’s demands unless they lower prices to levels paid by other countries, a White House official told STAT, speaking on the condition of anonymity.