Dec 17 (Reuters) – The White House is set to announce drug pricing deals with pharmaceutical giants Novartis and Roche Holding as soon as Friday, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the situation.
Other drugmakers could also be included in the announcement, and the details remain in flux, the report said.
The companies did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
U.S. patients currently pay by far the most for prescription medicines, often nearly three times more than in other developed countries, and President Donald Trump has been pressuring drugmakers to align prices with what is paid elsewhere.
Trump had sent letters to 17 leading drugmakers in July telling them to slash prices. Pfizer and AstraZeneca were the first two companies to reach deals with the Trump administration, agreeing to lower prescription drug prices in return for relief from tariffs.
Last month, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk struck a deal to slash the prices of popular GLP-1 weight-loss drugs for the government’s Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as for cash payers.
Companies have also said they would sell drugs directly to patients in the U.S. and offered discounts following Trump’s calls to bring down drug prices and cut out “middlemen” like pharmacies, insurers and pharmacy benefit managers.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Shilpi Majumdar)
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