The US president Donald Trump, in a meeting today with top executives of major pharmaceutical companies, asked the sector to boost production while reduce drug prices and pledged to quickly given the approval for the new medicines and will soon appoint a new head of the US food and drug Administration (FDA).
Present at the meeting were the CEOs of Novartis AG Companies, Merch & Co Inc, Johnson & Johnson, Celgene Corp, Eli Lilly & Co and Amgen Inc. and the head of the pressure group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
The Trump told the pharmaceutical industry that drug prices are "astronomical". "We need to reduce prices for several reasons. We have no other option for Medicare and Medicaid", he said, referring to insurance programs for the elderly, the poor and people with disabilities are the largest US drug buyers.
The US president also noted that the depreciation of the currency of other countries has intensified external production assignments and invited companies to manufacture most of their products in the United States. He also added that other countries should pay their share of the development cost of medicines. "We will stop the free world," he said.
The trade policy of the United States would require third countries to pay for the development costs of US drug "that our pharmaceutical companies to have more financial resources to accelerate the development of new therapies," he explained.
Before the inauguration of the Trump had caused tremors in the pharmaceutical sector investors when he said that "impunity" for those companies that charge the government for the drugs they produce, and that he will do something about it. As a result, the lobby of the pharmaceutical industry last week launched an advertising campaign to improve its image and to draw public attention to his achievements in research.
