WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to this evening’s State of the Union Address and President Trump’s statements on prescription drug prices, which focused primarily on TrumpRx and codifying a Most Favored Nation framework, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now CEO Merith Basey issued the following statement:
“While we welcome the strong rhetoric about the urgent need to lower prescription drug prices, the reality is that nearly 50 percent of Americans are worried about their ability to afford a health care cost this year, and U.S. patients currently pay between four and eight times more than those in other high-income countries for the very same brand-name drugs.
The administration has announced voluntary, direct-to-consumer and Most Favored Nation agreements, but these arrangements do not automatically lower drug prices across the entire system, nor do they apply to most high-cost or widely used medications.
If Congress codifies a strong, enforceable MFN-style policy into law, it could be a meaningful step toward bringing U.S. prices in line with those paid by other high-income countries. The details will determine whether it will truly deliver lasting savings.
In a system that has long favored drug corporations over patients, Americans urgently need further structural reform that permanently limits the monopoly pricing power of drug companies and lowers costs at the pharmacy counter.”
Background
- Approximately 85% of Americans have insurance, and drugs purchased through TrumpRx do not count toward deductibles or out-of-pocket limits, meaning the site is unlikely to significantly lower costs for most patients.
- Forty-three drugs are currently included on TrumpRx. For nearly half, there is either little to no change from pre-existing discounted prices, or a less expensive generic version is already available elsewhere. In some cases, the DTC price on TrumpRx is higher than the price patients would pay using coupons available directly from the manufacturer.
- Voluntary agreements with drug companies — especially when key details remain undisclosed — are no substitute for durable, system-wide reforms.
- The administration’s framework does not guarantee that Americans will pay the lowest price in the world across all brand-name drugs.
- Companies that participate in deals with the White House are exempt from GLOBE and GUARD, mandatory CMMI models designed to lower costs for Medicare Part B and Part D.
- Despite the President’s repeated calls to codify these agreements – and his party’s control of both chambers – no legislative framework has advanced. Other international reference pricing proposals have similarly failed to gain sufficient support.
- While discount platforms and executive actions may provide limited relief, patients need durable reforms that permanently rebalance pricing power.
Protect and Expand Medicare Negotiation
- In 2026, the first round of lower negotiated prices went into effect, bringing an average list price reduction of 63% to 10 of the most widely used blockbuster drugs on Medicare. These new prices are expected to save taxpayers $6 billion and 8.8 million patients $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs this year alone.
- Announced in January 2026, the third round of Medicare negotiation is set to lower the cost of drugs used by nearly 1.8 million people on Medicare, accounting for $27 billion in Medicare spending.
- Taxpayers are projected to save $99 billion from Medicare negotiation through 2031, and $237 billion from the drug pricing provision in the IRA as a whole.
- By improving treatment adherence, Medicare negotiation is projected to result in 656,967 fewer deaths, with nearly 94,000 lives saved annually from the reduced out-of-pocket costs.
- Unlike voluntary agreements, Medicare negotiation is written into law, enforceable, and could be expanded over time and into the commercial market, which is supported by 80% Americans across party lines.
- The Trump administration’s Department of Justice continued the vigorous legal defense begun under the previous administration, fighting against the pharmaceutical industry’s legal challenges to the program.
Eliminate Patent Abuse and Increase Competition
- Ensuring timely generic and biosimilar competition delivers durable, market-based savings for patients and taxpayers while preserving meaningful innovation incentives.
- Drug manufacturers routinely extend monopoly periods by filing dozens – sometimes hundreds – of additional patents on a single product, delaying lower-cost generics and biosimilars from entering the market.
- These “patent thickets” block competition and keep prices high long after the original innovation has been rewarded. The ETHIC Act would curb anti-competitive patent practices that allow manufacturers to game the system and prolong monopolies beyond what Congress intended.
- When six or more generic competitors enter the market, prices can fall by as much as 95%, demonstrating that competition is one of the most effective and sustainable ways to lower drug costs.
###
Patients For Affordable Drugs Now is the only national, patient advocacy organization focused exclusively on policies to lower drug prices. We empower and mobilize patients and allies, hold accountable those in power, and fight to shape and achieve system-changing policies that make prescription drugs affordable for all people in the United States. P4ADNow is bipartisan and does not accept funding from organizations that profit from the development or distribution of prescription drugs. To learn more, visit: PatientsForAffordableDrugsNOW.org