Drug pricing
Eli Lilly’s $19.8 billion revenue for the first quarter could have been higher if not for declining prices for key medicines like Zepbound, Mounjaro and Taltz.
Analysts will be watching as a generic version of semaglutide—marketed by Novo Nordisk as Wegovy for weight loss—launches in Canada as a test case for future price erosion in the U.S.
After striking a Most Favored Nation deal with the White House in January, Johnson & Johnson will now offer Xarelto at 68% off on TrumpRx, dropping its price from $611.82 to $197 per 30-pill pack.
Of the 17 companies that were implored by the White House last July to apply Most Favored Nation pricing to their drugs, Regeneron is the last to agree—the same day the FDA greenlit its gene therapy for hearing loss in kids.
Humira will be available on TrumpRx at an 86% discount, according to media reports, as part of AbbVie’s deal with the White House to avoid tariffs. The news comes less than a week after the president announced up to 100% levies on pharma products.
While some large companies could start paying the full tariff in 120 days, many products, including orphan drugs, cell and gene therapies, and antibody-drug conjugates, will enjoy exemptions that waive or greatly reduce the levies.
After Eli Lilly achieved the milestone approval of the weight loss pill Foundayo, Novo Nordisk launched a full-court press to defend oral Wegovy, which has been enjoying a record-breaking launch since January.
As Big Pharma companies consider foregoing European drug launches to avoid reducing drug prices in the U.S. in alignment with Trump’s Most Favored Nation policy, patients will suffer.
Following Insmed’s decision to hold off on launching a newly approved lung disease drug in Europe, experts anticipate more companies will do the same as they seek to avoid price erosion in the U.S. Will Chinese biotechs fill the void?
If the U.S. can help Japan reform its drug pricing controls, both countries stand to benefit.
PRESS RELEASES