President Donald Trump’s bold executive order on drug pricing isn’t just policy—it’s a revolution in healthcare affordability. The plan is simple yet transformative: ensure Americans pay no more for medications than citizens of other wealthy nations.
Consider this stark reality: a GLP-1 drug costing $88 in London commands $1,000 in the United States. Even after manufacturer discounts to insurers, Americans still pay over $400—for the identical medication, from the same company, produced in the same facility. This disparity is especially galling when pharmaceutical companies extract 70% of their profits from America—a nation representing just 4% of the world’s population. This global free-riding on American patients ends now.
Industry leaders recognize this imbalance. I’ve already engaged with CEOs from four major American pharmaceutical companies and a foreign manufacturer eager to relocate to the U.S. Their response has been encouraging, but we’re prepared to act decisively if necessary. U.S. Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) possess the statutory authority to deliver on President Trump’s commitment: other developed nations must pay more, so Americans can pay less, thus preserving the innovation pipeline.
Americans deserve both groundbreaking therapies and affordable access to them. Yet according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly one-third of patients skip prescribed medications due to cost—an unacceptable reality in the world’s wealthiest nation.
