Trump’s “Most-Favored Nation” Drug Pricing Plan is a Joke. Here’s What Really Works.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Under its campaign banner of “Most Favored Nation,” the Trump administration is cutting secretive deals with big pharma and throwing U.S. allies and European patients under the bus while declaring victory with unsubstantiated claims of savings for Americans that are radically overstated, according to new Public Citizen analysis.
In their report, Public Citizen researchers say between Trump’s direct-to-consumer drug discount website, TrumpRx, (which shows minimal impact), his illogical, baseless rationale that raising drug costs abroad will lower prices in the United States and his lack of support from Congress on his drug pricing plan at-large, the “Most Favored Nation” strategy seems farcical.
“The analysis by Trump’s White House is disingenuous and disconnected from reality,” said Public Citizen Access to Medicines Research Director Sarah Karlin-Smith. “The savings estimate overstates the impact of Trump’s secret deals with drugmakers, relies on a false narrative of how drug prices are set, and assumes a half-baked plan that lacks critical political support will become reality.”
Instead, Public Citizen is calling for building on the Medicare drug price negotiation program with an international reference pricing plan that achieves lower costs for the U.S. and doesn’t come at the expense of patients in other countries. This could be achieved while taking measures to preserve and enhance biomedical innovation.