@POTUS on Most Favored Nation prescription drug pricing: “We are going to pay the lowest price there is in the world. Whoever is paying the lowest price, that is the price we’re going to get — so we’re no longer paying ten times more than another country.”
More: On accusations that signing an executive order implementing Most Favored Nation prescription drug pricing is “price control,”
This … signing an executive order implementing Most Favored Nation prescription drug pricing is “price control”…
It is price control. It’s the opposite of out-of-control prices.
US consumers have been subsidizing pharma for other countries around the world for years, including our own. It’ll be interesting to see how this rattles out in price increases elsewhere.
I’d love to see a breakdown of why that is. Is it just because Canada allows generics sooner? I’ve also seen data that generics are usually cheaper in the states.
An oft cited statistic is that US consumers pay 5x per capita what consumers in other advanced industrialized countries do. Much greater prescription drug prices are part of that. The usual explanation is that government run healthcare systems, including single-payer health insurance systems, allow the government more leverage when negotiating prices with Big Pharma. A counter narrative is that Big Pharm deliberately soaks the US consumer with inflated prices in order to cover their development costs and profits because other countries employ price controls and that applying price controls in the US would mean that drug R&D would be slowed because Big Pharma could not recover R&D costs as easily. Another important factor is IP law which has been evolving quite a bit because of the increasing presence of biologics.
The big provider of generics is India (who get their raw materials, primarily from China). Together they have about 70% of the generics market. They have screwy intellectual property rights laws in India that allow earlier selling of generics…and India’s track record on safe drug creation is suspect (although, getting better).
I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that when Trump met with Modi the other week he gave him a heads up on this, and in return Modi got permission to take care of a little business with Pakistan. It’s just a little too coincidental in the timing.
Insurance. That’s the whole reason.
No one mentions the exorbitant cost of bureaucrats in the USA, Canada and the EU. Why did manufacturers go to India, China and so forth. Ask the folks in Bhopal, India that question
China has a cultural tradition of bureaucracy that stretches back more than 3,000 years. There are extant Chinese civil service exams that old. Manufacturers went to China because western countries have policy makers that want to tear down western civilization.
Most people in the US have insurance thru their job provided by private companies.
Other countries with government health care like Canada, and the government insurance programs in the US called Medicare/Medicaid, negotiate with the pharma companies for low prices on pharmaceuticals.
Since private insurance doesn’t have the power of a government behind it, the pharma companies turn around and charge people on private insurance many multiples of their government negotiated price to make their big profits.
So, the 100-150 million people in the US on private insurance, or without health insurance at all, subsidize the rest of the world (and people on Medicaid/care) when it comes to drug spending.
Trump in his first term tried to have Medicare negotiate better drug prices. The Democrats stopped that. See 5/12/25 CNN https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/12/politics/trump-executive-order-prescription-drug-prices for details. Big Pharma owns the Democrats.
One buyer – so Canada negotiates a price that does not cover the R & D for the drug. It’s why you will never see development of therapeutic drugs in Canada.
It’s another example of how utterly dependent Canada is on the much maligned US system that so conveniently pays for development of medical miracles like ultrasound, and an unending flood of other fundamental medical research.
Noblesse oblige
The free market is anathema to Big Pharma.
No one has to start and operate a drug company.
God forbid somebody might try to start one in Canada… How awful.
Wait up… I thought Canada already had a lot of Chinese operated drug factories.
They killed Sherman’s!
That was quite an interesting news conference with all the health secretaries…
It’ll be interesting to see how Canadian health officials respond, after they’ve mentioned their pronouns and acknowledged they’re standing on unceded land which is the traditional hunting lands of the some group or other.
But, but, but … America is $$$ RICH $$$!!! That’s the same justification used to erase our borders and allow all those millions of sweet, hard working [sic] people from POOR countries to invade our country. That’s what all your white-guilt-ridden leftist Boomer suburban moms said.
Don’t you believe RICH people should pay MORE? BIG PHARMA is simply redistributing American’s income to poor countries … like Canada. America should be knocked off her high horse … just like Obama said … right? Pay up America! Trump is only looking out for Billionaires and Oligarchs! They gotta pay-up in America … cause everyone’s a millionaire!!
https://youtu.be/qYQABJXHfpE?si=kQYgSvbWpzfqD-VT&t=35
Could we have tariffs for breakfast? Mummie Dear, Mummie Dear? They gotta have em in Chyyynahh where everyone in the Party’s a millionaire.
Three days in April the US Stock markets CRASHED thousands of points … the Dow sank into the 37k point range. It was a pre manufactured Trump tariff tantrum by the leftist ideologues. A coordinated selloff by massive globalist institutional stockholders. As with EVERYTHING anti-Trump … it was sooooo predictable what was happening. The TIMING of it alone was PROOF of the manufactured shock and awe intended to make “everyone” HATE Trump. The mass selloff was initiated ON the very day that Trump’s tariffs were “officially” announced. What a joke.
Well … slightly more than a month later … the Dow is above 42k … spiking up > 1k points just today. The BIG institutions SOLD and took profits, then started repurchasing the market at a huge discount. Dump and Pump. The WISE among us … BOUGHT the dip … with the paltry cash savings on hand. And boy-howdy! Thank you TDS-suffering traders! I have never made SO MUCH $$$ … so FAST … ever in the Stock Market! TDS has been massively profitable for me! Go ahead … do it again!
Makes me want to have breakfast in America.
Was able to buy during the tariff tantrum. Made a nice profit. Nice to see a few oligarchs give up a few billion.
Smart man. I have NEVER seen such a prefab, astroturfed, bullshit selloff in all of history. And all those “genius” “experts” talking Smoot-Hawley … and 1929 Oh My!! Recession!! Depression!!!
All the globalist (read: fkcu the USA) c()nts … don’t get me started. The media reeked of TDS … far worse than any MAGA crowd in a Walmart.
My only regret is that I didn’t deploy another $50k on day three of the drop. I was keeping some powder dry for day 4 of the drop which never came. How contrived was THIS selloff. Gawd … the TDS has infiltrated ALL of our once vaunted “institutions”
Kenji – You should look up James Thorne on X. He is chief strategist for Wellington Altus, a wealth management firm in Winnipeg. Best of all, he is not a slave to the dominant economic narratives, and has absolutely humiliated the Powell- Fed- Wall Street cabal and their Orange Man Very Bad for Markets narrative. He leaves them without a leg to stand on.
The only real surprise has been the fearful psychological response from Wall Street. It is time to quell those emotions and embrace the volatility of Trump 2.0.
In this context, Canada finds itself at a crucial crossroads. It must shed the complacency fostered by decades of U.S. economic leadership and position itself as a global leader in critical industries. With a federal election on the horizon, the stakes are high; retaliatory tariffs may provide temporary political satisfaction but are poor economic strategies. Canada must harness its abundant natural resources—energy, minerals, and agriculture—rather than react defensively. This means building pipelines, expanding refining capacity, and pushing back against policies that handicap Canada’s ability to compete on the world stage. By fostering investment and streamlining regulations, Canada can leverage its comparative advantages and assert its role in this new world order.
Advice unheard by the Canadian electorate. Elbows-up and other mindless socialist sloganeering is so much more digestible to a dull witted populace. They can’t be bothered to consider a RATIONAL response to the inevitable re-ordering of world economics.
Sorry small c … that was your guy with the intelligent response to OMG! Trump tariffs …
Best way to offshore new drug development and production I can think of. Xi Jinping smiles.
John
Guess you don’t work in, or understand manufacturing.
Apotex is a Canadian company, that manufactures at much cheaper costs. It’s patents that drive up costs.
I guess you don’t read very well because a Canadian manufacturer would be considered by the US to be “offshoring”.
You are wrong because this issue has little to do with the cost of manufacturing.
The issue is the majority of the world having pricing deals with the pharma companies while Americans with private insurance get screwed (the US is less than 5% of the world’s population but accounts for 70%+ of pharma sales revenue).
The pharma companies can’t survive lowering the prices in the US to match their worldwide prices. They are going to have to increase prices in Canada and other countries with price controls, or refuse to sell in those places to avoid having to match in the US)
John
But not offshoring for Canada, and I am concerned about MY costs. And the same COULD apply to similar manufacturing by companies in the USA. Try keeping up my child.
Scott Adams has some interesting tidbits on drug costs in his latest podcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL_LUHfj4eU
The drug stuff starts at 10:40 (mm:ss) and at 11:35 he introduces the concept of the pharmacy benefit manager or PBM. Their role is to lower drug prices while administering coverage but are often criticized of inflating costs.
He also references Mark Cuban of Cost Plus (among other things) who is trying to lower drug costs and has a lot to say about PBMs (hint: not good).
Would big Pharma gouge American consumers? Or tax payers via Medicare/Medicaid?
How about Pharmacy Benefit Managers?
Isn’t paying 10X more than everybody else also price control?.. Just saying..