In the struggle for cheaper medicines and more pharmaceutical factories in the USA, US President Trump has recently increased the pressure on the pharmaceutical industry with massive tariff threats. Pfizer CEO Bourla has now struck a deal with Trump - apparently in exchange for a tariff deferral.
The pharmaceutical company Pfizer has announced that it will lower prices on new drugs and invest 70 billion US dollars in production in the USA. This was announced by President Donald Trump (79) on Tuesday in the presence of Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla (63) at the White House.
As part of the agreement, the New York-based company will, according to Trump, significantly reduce its dispensing prices under the state healthcare program Medicaid and sell through a direct sales site with significant discounts. According to Trump, other patients will also benefit from significant price reductions from Pfizer in future. In return, according to Bourla, Pfizer will receive a three-year tariff deferral.
However, it remained unclear at the press conference how high the cuts would actually be. Trump had announced "cutting drug prices by 100 percent, in some cases by 300 percent or more", he told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. However, lowering a price by more than 100 percent is not possible because the price will already have dropped to zero. 🙈😂
Pfizer shareholders were relieved after the deal was announced. Pfizer shares rose by more than 5 percent in the meantime.
The Republican president has been trying to reduce the cost of medicines for months. In May, he issued an executive order giving pharmaceutical companies 30 days to voluntarily lower prices, otherwise new limits on government payments would be imposed. He also threatened to impose tariffs, which could, however, cause drug prices to rise further.
Pfizer is only the first company with which an agreement has been reached, Trump emphasized. "We will make deals with all of them - they are in line with us," said Trump. And if there is no agreement: "Then there will be tariffs," said the US President.
mihec/reuters,ap,dpa
