Donald Trump pledges to cut US prescription drug prices by 80pc

New Delhi, May 12 (IANS) In a new executive order, US President Donald Trump has vowed to cut the price of prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals in the US between 30 per cent to 80 per cent.

Taking to his social media platform Truth Social, Trump promised to sign the order on Monday morning, and provide Americans relief from high medication costs “almost immediately”.

He also cited years of frustration of US consumers in paying significantly higher prices for medications than people in other countries.

“For many years the World has wondered why Prescription Drugs and Pharmaceuticals in the United States States of America were so much higher in price than they were in any other nation,” Trump said in the post.

“Sometimes being five to 10 times more expensive than the same drug, manufactured in the exact same laboratory or plant, by the same company???”

The new policy is expected to tie the cost of drugs sold in the US to the lowest price paid by any other country for the same drug. It would introduce a “most favoured nation’s policy”, said Trump.

“Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens' Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before,” he added.

The US president also accused pharmaceutical companies of exploiting Americans by citing research and development costs to justify inflated prices. The move is expected to slash prices of cancer treatments and other injectable medications in the US.

Notably, the new policy would also force prices to rise in other countries to match, calling it a matter of fairness, Trump said. “They will rise throughout the World in order to equalise and, for the first time in many years, bring fairness to America!” he said.

Trump first introduced a similar plan during his first term, but it was blocked in court and never took effect. Trump said this time it is different, and promised that the move would “save trillions of dollars.”

--IANS

rvt/