If Trump calls, pharmaceutical companies give up on price increases

The prices of pharmaceuticals have become a political issue in the United States. Faced with rising health costs, not only the president but also members of Congress have seized the issue to make the most of political capital. Pharmaceutical companies are under pressure and must refrain from increasing the price of their active ingredients. The American drug market, until now largely left to power of supply and demand, could, if political pressures persist, sooner or later obtain greater regulation.

according to international standards, high prices paid for drugs in the United States that largely fund pharmaceutical research and development expenditures. The resulting innovations ultimately benefit the rest of the world. The United States therefore subsidizes health systems in other countries – an unacceptable condition for Donald Trump.

Drug companies are aware of the potential danger of this constellation, and individuals like Merck or Johnson & Johnson have begun to lower prices and actively communicate. In doing so, they responded to the wishes of the President, who promised the people at the end of May that he would lower prices in the drug market. Only the leader of the Pfizer industry refused to yield to the pressure and announced July 1 even price increases. Donald Trump did not want to accept that; He took the phone and spoke to the CEO of Pfizer and promised his promise to reverse the movement and avoid raising prices by the end of the year. . Then he tweeted, "Excellent news for the American people."

Logo of Merck & Co. at the New Jersey Headquarters. (Photo: Mel Evans / AP)

Trump 's intervention has also had an effect on other companies: meanwhile, Novartis and Roche have also announced that they' re going to work on it. will abstain from price increases until the end of the year. And Novartis quickly found an honorable mention in a tweet

Trump's approach can be dramatic and give the impression that the health market can be shaped by targeted interventions. However, well-known industry observers doubt that the structure of the pharmaceutical industry can be altered in this way. Brokerage badyst Bernstein badumes that prices continue to rise despite high promises. And when companies report price reductions, this often applies to products that have lost their patent protection and are exposed to generic competition. Here, as everywhere, lies the danger of false news.