Washington:

India’s Sun Pharma is among nine global drugmakers who have cut pricing deals with President Donald Trump’s administration to voluntarily lower medicine prices in the United States in line with what other similar economies pay. The deals have also been signed by other midsize manufacturers like Alcon, Astellas Pharma, BeOne Medicines, BridgeBio, CSL, Kyowa Kirin, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and UCB. 

The deal comes amid Team Trump’s pressure on midsize companies to fall in line with its pricing regime, as it expands its most-favoured-nation (MFN) pricing deals already signed with 17 large drug manufacturers, including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Merck, Eli Lilly, and Novo Nordisk.

“We now have 26 companies representing 90 per cent of the domestic pharmaceutical market, and the other 10 per cent are also coming in [to make deals]. They have no choice,” Trump said during the announcement.

Not much information is available about the deals, which come amid fears within the pharmaceutical industry about how price concessions could affect the bottom lines of smaller players.

However, the Washington Post reported that as part of the agreement, the drugmakers will lower prices on products that treat conditions including hemophilia, glaucoma, Parkinson’s disease, liver disease, and various forms of cancer — and offer MFN pricing to state Medicaid programs.

Moreover, several companies that signed the deal –including Astellas Pharma, Sun Pharma — will also have to donate a large quantity of their products to the Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Reserve to “reduce reliance on foreign nations and ensure the United States has an adequate supply of such products in the event of an emergency,” according to the White House.

These companies have also committed to investing at least $19.6 billion in near-term US manufacturing, the White House added.

In return, these companies are expected to avoid Team Trump’s tariffs and new Medicare drug pricing models.