Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the timeline to see U.S. drug prices fall to the same level as those seen in European countries will largely depend on how enthusiastically drug companies cooperate.
“There are a series of escalating steps that we will take if they don’t cooperate,” he said on FOX Business’ “Varney & Co.” Monday.
“But we’ve been meeting with the pharmaceutical companies. They admit that this is something that should have ended a long time ago, and I think they’re ready to figure out a way to get there, and they have advantages in this executive order because we got rid of the PBMs (Pharmacy Benefit Managers). We got rid of the middlemen, and that’s something that they’ve wanted themselves.”
America currently provides 75% of pharmaceutical revenues in the world, despite having less than five percent of the world’s population, according to a White House fact sheet.
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During a press briefing before departing for Saudi Arabia on Monday, President Trump cited the cost of injection-style medications like Ozempic and Wegovy, two popular drugs that share the common base semaglutide, used to treat obesity and metabolic conditions that contribute to it.
He offered the example of an anonymous friend who takes an injection-style obesity drug and noticed a glaring cost discrepancy between the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
“He said, ‘I just paid $88 and in New York I pay $1,300. What the hell is going on?’” Trump shared.
“‘So I [he] checked, and it’s the same box made in the same plant by the same company. It’s the identical pill that I buy in New York. And here I’m paying $88 in London, and New York, I’m paying $1,300.’”
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Kennedy also pointed to the steep cost of Ozempic while speaking to Varney.
“In our country, the list price for Ozempic is $1,300 per dose. In London, it’s $88, and Democratic and Republican politicians have been talking about for years: ‘We’ve got to end these discrepancies.’ Nobody has had the courage to do it because of the power of the pharmaceutical lobby on Capitol Hill.”
The executive order signed Monday requires Health and Human Services, which is led by Kennedy, to seek comment on the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, which the Biden administration authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act and allows Medicare to directly engage in hashing out prescription prices with drug companies.
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Drug prices have significantly spiked in recent years. Between January 2022 and January 2023, prescription drug prices rose more than 15% and reached an average of $590 per drug product, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Of the 4,200 prescription drugs included on that list, 46% of the price increases exceeded the rate of inflation.
The Trump administration has set a 30-day deadline to slash the cost of prescription drugs for American patients.
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Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
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