President Donald Trump told pharmaceutical executives Tuesday that they have to lower drug prices, while warning foreign nations that he intends to stop their “freeloading” off American drugmakers.
“The US drug companies have produced extraordinary results for our country, but the pricing has been astronomical for our country,” Trump said. “We have to do better.”
“We have to get lower prices, we have to get even better innovation, and I want you to move your companies back to the United States. I want you to manufacture in the United States.”
Trump’s meeting with the CEOs — who included those from Merck, Amgen, Eli Lilly, Novartis and Johnson & Johnson — comes as he’s meeting with private-sector leaders to try to encourage job growth.
Trump promised the drug execs he’d help them by streamlining the review process for new drugs.
“You’re going to get your products approved or not approved. But it’s going to be a quick process. It’s not going to take 15 years,” he said.
Tearing into foreign companies that benefit from US drugs, the president said: “We’re going to be ending global freeloading. Foreign price controls reduce the resources of American drug companies to finance drug and R&D innovation. I think you people know very well, it’s very unfair to this country.”
“Our trade policy will prioritize that foreign countries pay their fair share for US-manufactured drugs, so our drug companies have greater financial resources to accelerate development of new cures, and I think that’s so important. Right now it’s very unfair what other countries are doing to us,” he added.
Earlier this month, Trump charged that pharmaceutical companies are “getting away with murder” in what they charge the government.