The Trump-Pfizer deal
By David Cano
As in the words of Dr. Marty Makary, the U.S. Food and Drug Administrator, “having Cancer is hard enough”, in reference to the high drug costs combined with the stress of battling the disease. Throughout the United States, many Americans deal with the pressure of fighting disease and illnesses while having to also deal with the cost of purchasing medications. Though the prices of most drugs and medicines are offset by their insurance plans, there is still a copay involved, and those costs can certainly add up. 92 percent of Americans have some form of insurance plan that helps them pay for their medicines, and then there’s Medicare and Medicaid that provide assistance to beneficiaries of a certain age or income level. The price of drugs has been an ongoing issue for decades now within the American Health care discussion and has been a political fighting point as well between the Republican and Democrat parties, each claiming to have a better plan and results for addressing the issue. But this past week in the Oval Office, a monumental deal was made between the Trump Administration, and the Pfizer Drug company lead by their Chief Executive Officer, Alberto Bourla.
In an Oval office press conference on Tuesday September 30, President Trump was joined by Bourla, along with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Medicare and Medicaid Chief, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, and several other officials. The deal basically waives the Pfizer company from a major portion of the Trump tariffs if they decide to invest a significant amount of investment and development in the United States. Ultimately, Pfizer decided to invest 70 billion dollars in research and development in the United States in exchange for most favored nation pricing for Americans, which is essentially a more affordable price for the citizens of the nation where the drugs are sold and purchased. Another part of the deal is the soon to come TrumpRxsite which is expected to go live in 2026. This program is intended to provide a smoother sale of drugs to American consumers at a discounted price. The announcement that Tuesday was the result of a process that involved back and forth discussions between President Trump’s Team and Bourla himself along with other Big Pharma officials weighing in on the results. The tensions involved in the discussions were related to the possible reactions of other drug companies and their investors to see how the economic implications of the deal could ultimately affect their companies. Many are hoping that the decision from Pfizer to agree with Trump’s terms and accept his deal will result in the immediate drop of drug prices for many Americans, especially those facing serious medical conditions.