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Trump announces deal with AstraZeneca
President Trump on Friday announced that a deal has been reached with UK pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to cut drug prices in the US. LiveNOW's Christina Evans discusses the announcement with political analyst Brian Sobel.
WASHINGTON - On Friday, AstraZeneca became the second major pharmaceutical manufacturer to announce it had agreed to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Medicaid under a deal struck with the Trump administration.
Under the agreement, AstraZeneca will charge most-favored-nation pricing to Medicaid, while guaranteeing such pricing on newly launched drugs, according to Trump. That involves matching the lowest price offered in other developed nations.
New drug price deal with AstraZeneca
What they're saying:
President Donald Trump made the announcement in the Oval Office with AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot, who said that during tough negotiations to reach a deal, Trump and his team of officials had "really kept me up at night."
AstraZeneca's deal follows a similar agreement Pfizer announced late last month.
"For many years, Americans have paid the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, by far," Trump said, adding that the new deal may cut prices to "the lowest price anywhere in the world. That’s what we get."
Trump gives drug companies deadline to lower prices
The backstory:
Both agreements build on an executive order Trump signed in May that set a deadline for drugmakers to electively lower prices or face new limits on what the government will pay. Trump had suggested that a series of deals with drug companies would subsequently be coming.
The office building of biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is being seen in Shanghai, China, on May 23, 2024. (Credit: Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
"The tariffs were a big reason he came here," Trump said of Soriot.
In July, Trump sent 17 letters to pharmaceutical companies on Thursday in an effort to reduce drug prices for Americans.
According to the letter, the order was intended to "stop global freeloading and guarantee that Americans pay the same prices enjoyed by other developed nations."
RELATED: Trump gives drug companies deadline to lower ‘abusive’ prices
"This unacceptable burden on hardworking American families ends with my administration," Trump wrote, according to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. "The only thing I will accept from drug manufacturers is a commitment that provides American families immediate relief from the vastly inflated drug prices, and an end to the free ride of American innovation by European and other developed nations."
Accordingly, Trump called on the drug companies and manufacturers doing business to guarantee most favored nation pricing for newly launched drugs and Medicaid with the next 60 days, return increased revenues abroad to American patients and taxpayers, and provide for direct purchasing at most favored nation pricing.
Big picture view:
Cambridge, United Kingdom-based AstraZeneca makes a range of cancer treatments. Its products include the lung cancer drug Tagrisso; Lynparza, an oral treatment for ovarian cancer, and Calquence, which treats chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Those drugs brought in a total of more than $7.5 billion in U.S. sales last year.
The Source: This story was reported from Los Angeles. The Associated Press, previous FOX Local reporting contributed.