Trump signs healthcare executive order that includes a win for pharma companies | The Business Standard
Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Latest
  • Economy
  • Videos
  • World+Biz
  • Features
  • More
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
June 15, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe

Main menu

  • Latest
  • Economy
  • Videos
  • World+Biz
  • Features
  • More
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2025
Trump signs healthcare executive order that includes a win for pharma companies

USA

Reuters
16 April, 2025, 11:55 am
Last modified: 16 April, 2025, 03:26 pm

Related News

  • What to know about 'No Kings' protests against Trump’s policies
  • Australia PM Albanese to meet with Trump on G7 sidelines in Canada
  • Macron visits Greenland to signal European resolve after Trump annexation threats
  • Trump says US had 'nothing to do with the attack on Iran'
  • Japan and US trade negotiators spoke again on Saturday: Japan gov't

Trump signs healthcare executive order that includes a win for pharma companies

Drugmakers have been pushing to delay the timeline under which medications become eligible for price negotiations by four years for small molecule drugs, which are primarily pills and account for most medicines

Reuters
16 April, 2025, 11:55 am
Last modified: 16 April, 2025, 03:26 pm
US President Donald Trump reacts as he meets NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (not pictured), in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
US President Donald Trump reacts as he meets NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (not pictured), in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

Highlights:

  • Trump's order targets Medicare drug price negotiation timeline
  • Congress must approve changes to Medicare price negotiations
  • Order encourages state drug importation programs
  • FDA urged to streamline approval for generics and biosimilars

US President Donald Trump directed his health department on Tuesday to work with Congress on revamping a law that allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, seeking to introduce a change the pharmaceutical industry has lobbied for.

Drugmakers have been pushing to delay the timeline under which medications become eligible for price negotiations by four years for small molecule drugs, which are primarily pills and account for most medicines.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

That would align with the 13-year wait until more complex biotech drugs become eligible for Medicare price negotiations.

The wide-ranging executive order signed by Trump aims to reduce healthcare costs. It comes one day after the Trump administration instituted a national security report into the pharmaceutical industry, a precursor to sector-specific tariffs.

The ability of Medicare for the first time to directly negotiate prices on selected medicines was part of President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act. Medicare covers 66 million Americans, mostly aged 65 and older.

Drugmakers have complained about the terms of Medicare's negotiating powers, saying it would stifle innovation. In particular, the industry has opposed the time frame for negotiation eligibility for most drugs.

When drugs have no competition, the law now allows the government to negotiate prices for complex biologic, or biotech, drugs after 13 years on the market, but after 9 years for drugs taken as pills and capsules.

Trump cannot implement the change through executive order because the negotiation process is outlined in legislation, but his order instructs Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to work with Congress on changing it.

Other proposed changes to the negotiation process would yield more savings than those achieved during the first round under the Biden administration, White House officials told reporters on a call before the signing without providing specifics.

Biden's administration had negotiated a price cut of as much as 79% for the first group of 10 drugs seen as among the most costly to the Medicare program.

The Trump administration will negotiate prices for the second group of 15 medications, which includes Novo Nordisk's blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss treatments Ozempic and Wegovy as well as Pfizer's cancer drugs Ibrance and Xtandi.

Trump's order also seeks to align Medicare payments for drugs with those of hospitals, which can be 35% lower, and calls for standardizing patient payment rates across locations so that people are not charged different rates depending on where they receive care, a policy known as site-neutral payments.

Trump directed the Food and Drug Administration to encourage more applications from states for drug importation programs, which were initiated during his first term.

So far only Florida has won FDA authorization to directly import drugs from Canada, even though several more states have applied. It also directs the FDA to streamline approval for less expensive generic and biosimilar versions of branded medicines.

Top News / World+Biz

Donald Trump / Trump Tariffs / Trump Trade War / Pharma industry

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur. TBS Sketch
    5 Islamic banks to merge into one, no one will lose their jobs: BB governor
  • People watch from a bridge as flames from an Israeli attack rise from Sharan Oil depot, following Israeli strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 15, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
    Iran says it will stop 'self-defence response' if Israel halts attacks
  • Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin addressing a seminar with stakeholders at the Election Commission headquarters in Dhaka's Agargaon on 29 April 2025. File Photo: TBS
    Can’t confirm national election date yet: CEC Nasir Uddin

MOST VIEWED

  • Tour operator Borsha Islam. Photo: Collected
    ‘Tour Expert’ admin Borsha Islam arrested over Bandarban tourist deaths
  • Fighter jet. Photo: AFP
    3 F-35 fighter jets downed, two Israeli pilots in custody, claims Iranian media
  • Infographic: TBS
    Chattogram Port proposes 70%-100% tariff hike
  • Vehicles were seen stuck on the Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway due to a traffic jam stretching 15 kilometres on 14 June 2025. Photo: TBS
    15km traffic jam on Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway as post-Eid rush continues
  • Ahsan H Mansur. TBS sketch
    BB governor meets global litigation funders to mobilise $100m for tracing stolen assets
  • Burnt out cars and damaged buildings are all that’s left of this street in Ramat Gan Credit: AP
    Iran threatens to strike US, UK, and French bases if they help defend Israel

Related News

  • What to know about 'No Kings' protests against Trump’s policies
  • Australia PM Albanese to meet with Trump on G7 sidelines in Canada
  • Macron visits Greenland to signal European resolve after Trump annexation threats
  • Trump says US had 'nothing to do with the attack on Iran'
  • Japan and US trade negotiators spoke again on Saturday: Japan gov't

Features

Photos: Collected

Kurtis that make a great office wear

2d | Mode
Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

3d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

4d | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

6d | Features

More Videos from TBS

Israel-Iran strikes: What are the worst-case scenarios?

Israel-Iran strikes: What are the worst-case scenarios?

31m | TBS World
EC moving forward with polls preparations, committed to ensuring level playing field: CEC

EC moving forward with polls preparations, committed to ensuring level playing field: CEC

1h | TBS Today
Iran-Israel conflict heats up at G7 summit

Iran-Israel conflict heats up at G7 summit

2h | TBS World
Is Regime Change in Iran Israel's Goal?

Is Regime Change in Iran Israel's Goal?

2h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net