Donald Trump signed a decree on Tuesday in which he orders his government to work on a series of measures to lower the price of medicines in the United States, where they are significantly higher than abroad.
Among the actions listed: improving the negotiation process between public health insurance and pharmaceutical groups or the possibility offered to states to import drugs directly from foreign countries to lower costs.
“The president relies on existing programs to achieve significant savings,” said a White House official expressed under the cover of anonymity.
According to a study by the RAND Corporation, the United States pays an average of 2.5 times more for prescription drugs than France for example. A gap that Donald Trump was committed to reducing during his presidential campaign.
Nothing ensures that the measures announced on Tuesday can result in a drop in prices for the Americans, at least immediately.
Negotiations carried out by public health insurance over 65 “Medicare” on the prices of certain drugs are long -term processes and reduced prices negotiated by former president Joe Biden – who also led an offensive in this area – will not take effect for example in 2026.
In addition, the new US government announced Monday launching an investigation into the share of imports in the pharmaceutical sector, raising fears of the upcoming establishment of dedicated customs duties, as was the case for the automobile. However, such a measure would increase the costs of many imported chemical drugs and chemical compounds.
In this decree, Donald Trump also requests the dedicated federal ministries and agencies to simplify the process of approval of generic drugs to strengthen competition between manufacturers and to study the possibility of negotiating certain drugs at the reduced rates enjoyed by hospitals.
However, the text does not mention a flagship measure defended by the Republican during his first mandate and which aimed to index the prices of American drugs on what other developed countries pay.
