Prescription drug prices in the U.S. have been priced too hard to please, and so have they gone to the next level, says Jolley

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America came out against the executive order after Trump teased it on Truth Social Sunday night.

On May 12, Trump signed an executive order asking drugmakers to bring down the prices Americans pay for prescriptions, to put them in line with prices in other countries.

If drugmakers don’t do it voluntarily, the administration is threatening to directly tie drug prices paid by government programs like Medicare to those paid in other countries.

The order says that within 30 days the administration will give price targets to drugmakers “to bring prices for American patients in line with comparably developed nations.” The order lays out actions the administration would take if drugmakers don’t comply voluntarily, such as rulemaking to impose the prices. It’s unclear in the short term what legal authority the administration would have to enforce the order.

“We’ve been subsidizing other countries throughout the world” by paying higher prices, Trump said at the White House Monday, joined by leaders of federal health agencies.

The United States pays more for drugs than other countries because of government health care systems that set prices. Drug companies in the U.S. are given more freedom to see what the market will bear because they don’t set prices.

There are rows of pill bottles in a dim basement in Salt Lake City, one man’s defensive wall in a tariff war.

Jolley bought six months of the most expensive bottles, hoping to protect himself from the tariffs on imported goods that Trump announced on April 2. Now with threats of additional tariffs targeting pharmaceuticals, Jolley worries that costs will soar for the medications that will fill those bottles.

Jolley said using tariffs is a way to push manufacturing from China and India to the U.S. In case of a war, China could immediately stop all exports to the US.

“I understand the rationale for tariffs. I’m not sure that we’re gonna do it the right way,” Jolley said. I am sure that it will raise the price that I pay my suppliers.

Squeezed by insurers and middlemen, independent pharmacists such as Jolley find themselves on the front lines of a tariff storm. Drugmakers, wholesalers, and middleman don’t like most tariffs.

“Big ships don’t change course overnight,” said Robin Feldman, a UC Law San Francisco professor who writes about prescription drug issues. It will take time to get companies up and running, even if they promise to bring manufacturing home. The key will be to avoid damage to industry and pain to consumers.

“When they hear that, they will leave China,” he said. The us imported $213 billion worth of medicines from China, India and other countries between 1996 and 24.

“The one word that I would say right now to describe tariffs is ‘uncertainty,'” said Scott Pace, a pharmacist and co-owner of Kavanaugh Pharmacy in Little Rock, Ark.

The American pharmacy stockpiles most common medicines on chance of targeted Trump tariffs: How much drug pricing will we have to worry about?

“I’ve identified the top 200 generics in my store, and I have basically put 90 days’ worth of those on the shelf just as a starting point,” he said. “Those are the diabetes drugs, the blood pressure medicines, the antibiotics — those things that I know folks will be sicker without.”

Unlike other retailers, pharmacies can’t pass along such costs to patients. Their payments are set by health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers largely owned by insurance conglomerates, who act as middlemen between drug manufacturers and purchasers.

“You’ve got real estate in North Texas that’s cheaper than real estate in Shenzhen,” he said at an economic conference April 25 in Washington, referring to a major Chinese chemical manufacturing center.

But Wosińska said no amount of tariffs will compel makers of generic drugs, responsible for 90% of U.S. prescriptions, to build new factories in the U.S. Payment structures and competition would make it economic suicide, she said.

The group tried to explain the difficulties to the officials. Murphy said they are not a trade group representing brand-name drugs. I can’t go to Mar-a-Lago to talk to the president on my own.

The generic forms of expensive drugs such as Humira and Stelara are made by Fresenius Kabi. The United States is a country where laws are more generous to the original patent holders, which has led to biosimilars appearing on the market.

European governments tend to keep their contracts with generics stable, while in the US, a manufacturer may scrimp on product quality in order to stay competitive, said a White House Domestic Policy Council member.

Source: Pharmacists stockpile most common drugs on chance of targeted Trump tariffs

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He said that he was faced with a problem of caring for his community but not being exposed to the emotional roller coaster of the prescriptions being sold and the profits being made.

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