Name: Trump announces agreements with major drugmakers to lower prices
Uploaded: 2025-12-20T03:08:38.213Z
Duration: 1 min 48 s
Description: President Trump announced new agreements on Friday with nine pharmaceutical companies aimed at making certain prescription drugs cheaper. CBS News reporter Karen Hua has the details.

President Trump announced new agreements on Friday with nine pharmaceutical companies aimed at making certain prescription drugs cheaper. CBS News reporter Karen Hua has the details.

Washington

President Trump has announced new agreements with nine major pharmaceutical companies, including Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Merck, to lower the prices of certain prescription drugs. These companies primarily produce medications for cancer and chronic conditions such as HIV, asthma, and diabetes. 

Under the plan, starting early next year, the companies will offer discounted medications through the TrumpRx program in exchange for three-year tariff exceptions. While the initiative is expected to save states money on Medicaid, experts say individual Medicaid patients may not see significant price changes.

Trump announces agreements with major drugmakers to lower prices

President Trump announced new agreements today with nine pharmaceutical companies that are aimed at making certain prescription drugs cheaper. CBS News reporter Karen Waugh is live now from Houston, Texas with more on this. So Karen, what drugs are covered under this announcement and what companies are actually participating? Hey Jules, good to be with you. So I want to turn your attention to this list that's coming up on the screen. These are the nine companies included in some of the biggest names included among these include Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Merck. They largely make drugs that treat certain types of cancers and chronic conditions like HIV, asthma, COPD, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, type 2 diabetes, and other diseases as well. So starting early next year, these nine companies will sell their medication on TrumpRx, the administration's discount drug pricing program. President Trump says he'll give these nine companies tariff exceptions for three years in exchange for the lower prices. The goal is for the drug prices in the U.S. to be the same, if not lower, than that of other developed countries, Jules. Yeah, so I think everyone thinks, okay, how is this going to affect me in the pocketbook? So how will Medicaid patients feel the difference and will the cost be passed on to other payers? Well, unfortunately, Jules, some experts say that actual Medicaid patients are not going to feel much of a price difference with Trump's new program because Medicaid patients aren't the ones paying for drugs out of pocket. It's the states that are. So Trump's new program could save states some money, but it may not necessarily save individuals money. In order to offset these costs, though, Trump says when other countries pay more for existing drugs, part of that money will come back to the U.S. Jules? Karen Wah. Karen, thank you.

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