The Trump Administration Is Reviving Its Worst Drug Pricing Policies

President Trump is looking to revive some of the policies he tried to enact during his first term. He recently issued an executive order aimed at compelling pharmaceutical companies to sell drugs in the United States at the lowest price available in other developed countries. He upped the ante late last month by writing several major drug companies—including Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson—informing them that they had to comply with his “Most Favored Nation” order.

This order is just an attempt to import foreign price controls. By undercutting manufacturers’ ability to set prices for their products, Most Favored Nation could reduce access to novel drugs in America, slow innovation, and disrupt the market incentives that deliver the low-priced generic drugs that account for the vast majority of prescriptions in this country.