US Drug Costs Rise At Home, Fall Abroad as Trump Weighs Action

The prices of top prescription drugs from companies such as Amgen Inc., Pfizer Inc., and Merck & Co., increased after launching in the US, even as they fell over time in foreign markets, according to a report from a leading lobbying group for older Americans.

The findings, set to be published Thursday by AARP, found that the list prices for 25 top brand name drugs rose by an average of 81% after entering the US market, while prices for those same medications decreased by an average of 13% in 19 other high-income countries.

It’s released as President Donald Trump seeks to advance aggressive measures to lower prescription drug prices, including the most-favored-nation policy that would align US drug prices to cheaper ones abroad.

The costs of top medications that treat cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases decreased over time in countries that the Trump administration is seeking to compare prices to, such as Germany, France, and Canada, according to the report.

“It’s really just a different angle on something that’s really been in the news a lot lately, which is that the US pays a lot more for prescription drugs than other countries,” Leigh Purvis, the prescription drug principal in AARP’s Public Policy Institute, said in an interview. “This takes it a step further and says what happens after those products enter the market.”

AARP said it isn’t endorsing any specific administration proposal, but rather seeks to reinforce that the current US drug pricing trajectory is different from that of similar countries.

The group is the largest nonprofit organization lobbying for older Americans, often advocating for federal policies to lower drug prices, such as caps to out-of-pocket spending and the Biden administration’s Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program.

Federal lobbying disclosures show the group shelled out more than $3.8 million in the first quarter and discussed the most-favored-nation policy and other healthcare matters.

That number is down from last year when AARP spent $6.6 million in the first quarter, and $5.3 million in Q4, according to federal lobbying disclosures.

Lowering Prices

While some of the world’s largest manufacturers have formed deals with Trump to slash drug costs, the pharmaceutical industry has long pushed back on policies that would mandate foreign price controls.

Such policies would outsource US pricing to countries that use metrics that undervalue medicines, companies have argued.

Drugmakers also attribute the higher US drug prices to research and development costs that allow for first-line access to treatments.

That argument doesn’t hold water, Purvis said.

“We hear that response every time,” she said. “Obviously everybody wants innovation to continue, but we want to make sure people can actually afford it.”

White House officials have campaigned for lawmakers to codify the most-favored-nation plan into law, but so far without success. Meanwhile, Trump has moved to implement levies on patented drugs made in countries that lack tariff deals with the US by companies that have yet to reach most-favored-nation-pricing agreements with his administration.