White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Thursday that President Trump had sent 17 letters to pharmaceutical CEOs, demanding lower drug prices and warning that he would “deploy every tool” at his disposal to enforce reductions.
Leavitt read aloud from Trump’s letter to Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks, in which the president vowed to end “global freeloading.” Trump also referenced an executive order he signed in the spring, tackling the issue of pharmaceutical prices.
“This unacceptable burden on American families ends with my administration,” the letter continued.
In the letter, Trump demanded that drug makers who do business in the U.S. take action within 60 days, warning “if you refuse to step up, we’ll deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices.”
The letter called to “extend the most favored nation pricing to Medicaid, guarantee most favored nation pricing to newly launched drugs, return increased revenues abroad to American patients and taxpayers, and provide for direct purchasing at most favored nation pricing.”
