Drug Prices Were Coming Down— Señor T Put A Stop To That On His First Day Back In The Oval Office

How Long Before Trump’s Voters Start To Understand They’ve Been Had?

It’s no longer a pending nightmare; as you know, Trump’s back in the White House, signing executive orders. Much to the delight of Big PhRMA, he nixed Biden’s last executive order on forcing the drug companies to negotiate their inflated prices with Medicare (Executive Order 1408. It’s all ‘fuck the consumer’; higher profit’s for Trump-aligned corporate crooks. The targeted drugs that will remain prohibitively expensive:

• Ozempic; Rybelsus; Wegovy

• Trelegy Ellipta

• Xtandi

• Pomalyst

• Ibrance

• Ofev

• Linzess

• Calquence

• Austedo; Austedo XR

• Breo Ellipta

• Tradjenta

• Xifaxan

• Vraylar

• Janumet; Janumet XR

• Otezla

Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie (I-VT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) had sent Trump a letter urging him to help protect Medicare enrollees from run-away corporate greed. The 3 senior senators acted after seeing reports that revealed that “drugmakers will ask the Trump administration to pause (Medicare) drug price negotiations.” Pausing these drug price negotiations, made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), would dramatically increase costs for over 60 million Medicare beneficiaries. The Senators reminded President Trump that “the pharmaceutical industry’s efforts to pause this law are not aligned with your record on drug pricing.”

Another of the rescinded measures was a program that capped co-payments for generic medications at $2 for Medicare beneficiaries. This initiative was designed to make essential medications more affordable for seniors. Trump killed that on his first day in office. Big Pharmacy companies and their executives lined Trump’s pockets with millions of dollars disguised as inauguration contributions.

Warren told her constituents that “Since the passage of the IRA, the government has reduced U.S. list prices for targeted drugs by up to 79 percent and is expected to save ‘Medicare beneficiaries $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs’ alone in 2026. If continued, these price negotiations are expected to save taxpayers around 100 billion over the next decade. President Trump has repeatedly signaled his willingness to push back at Big Pharma. During his first administration, President Trump signed executive orders to ensure ‘Medicare patients receive the lowest price that drug companies offer comparable foreign nations,’ and to prevent drug manufacturers from conspiring with prescription drug middlemen to keep selling high-priced drugs over lower-cost generics. President Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, RFK. Jr., has similarlycalled for action to curb Big Pharma’s abuse, including through direct negotiations and to ‘cap drug prices so that companies can’t charge Americans substantially more than Europeans pay.’ But Big Pharma continues to fight against these efforts. Multiple giant pharmaceutical companies and trade groups have already filed unsuccessful lawsuits against the negotiation provisions— and continue to file suit. Eli Lilly’s CEO, Dave Ricks, said recently, ‘They need to fix (the IRA) before negotiating down the price of more drugs.’

The letter to Trump— cc-ed to RFK, Jr— noted “that the ‘drugmakers will ask the Trump administration to pause [Medicare] drug price negotiations’ soon after you take office. There is no legal basis for any pause, and allowing giant pharmaceutical companies to pressure you into one would dramatically increase costs for over 60 million Medicare beneficiaries and betray your own campaign promises. You once said that ‘[d]eals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully or write poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals.’ You should use those skills to cut drug prices and flat out reject any request to end negotiations from giant pharmaceutical makers that have spent decades putting profits over patients.

In 2016, you told the American public that “if we negotiated the price of drugs ... we’d save $300 billion a year.” The Inflation Reduction Act made these negotiations possible, and as you suggested, the newfound power is paying dividends. Since the law’s passage in 2022, the government has reduced U.S. list prices for targeted drugs by up to 79 percent and is expected to save “Medicare beneficiaries $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs” alone in 2026. If continued, price negotiations will save taxpayers roughly $100 billion over the next decade. The second round of price negotiations was announced on January 16th, and your administration will be responsible for negotiating discounted prices for these drugs by November 1, 2025. Notably, the list includes Ozempic, which is up to 10 to 15 times more expensive in the U.S. compared to other advanced economies. By rejecting Big Pharma’s efforts, you can make good on your promise to secure big deals.

Indeed, the pharmaceutical industry’s efforts to pause this law are not aligned with your record on drug pricing. In addition to supporting negotiations, you have outlined various initiatives to push back at Big Pharma— which you have said “is getting away with murder.” For example, during your first administration, you signed executive orders to ensure “Medicare patients receive the lowest price that drug companies offer comparable foreign nations,” and to prevent drug manufacturers from conspiring with prescription drug middlemen to keep selling high- priced drugs over lower-cost generics. More recently, you have signaled your desire to go after the pharmaceutical industry, and your pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, RFK. Jr., has similarly called for action to curb Big Pharma’s abuse, including through direct negotiations and to “cap drug prices so that companies can’t charge Americans substantially more than Europeans pay.”

…Given your past support for negotiations and efforts to lower prescription drug costs, you should flat out reject these requests from Big Pharma. This law does not need to be paused. It is working just fine for Medicare, and you can make it work even better. We ask that you defend the law aggressively in court and use your power to negotiate the price of these drugs to negotiate the best deal possible for seniors. We urge you not to increase prices for seniors, and given your previous support for lowering prescription drug costs, welcome opportunities to collaborate to lower drug pricing.