Trump Signs Executive Action to Lower Drug Prices
Building on the Biden administration’s efforts, the Trump administration is looking to address the skyrocketing costs of prescription medications that impact everyone in the U.S. President Trump hopes to lower prescription costs for seniors and those in the most vulnerable communities and has signed an executive action as of April of 2025.
But what does this executive action mean for your prescriptions? Here’s what you need to know about whether the order and the administration’s other actions, such as tariffs, will impact your costs.
Improving the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
In 2022, President Biden passed the Inflation Reduction Act. This act gives Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices directly with manufacturers. Medicare tends to focus on lowering rates for the most expensive medications and the ones that treat serious conditions, such as diabetes and cancer.
In 2024, Medicare negotiated prices for 10 drugs, and it plans to target 15 this year. One of the medications in line for negotiations is Ozempic, which is essential for the treatment of diabetes and currently has a list price of $1,000 a month.
Additionally, the Trump administration is looking to revive a program it created during President Trump’s first term. This program provided low-cost insulin to patients who didn’t have health insurance. Under the program, injectable epinephrine would be around $15.
However, one of the problems of the Inflation Reduction Act is that the price cuts won’t take effect until 2026. Savings from the Trump negotiations won’t make a difference to patients until 2027.
Small Molecule Drugs and Biologics
The executive action is focused on negotiating rates for small-molecule drugs, which interact with enzymes, proteins, and receptors. These medications help to regulate cellular processes. Typically available in pill form, they can treat everything from certain cancers to heart disease.
The executive action would not, on the other hand, impact biologic drugs. These drugs are made using living organisms or their byproducts, including plant cells, yeast, and bacteria.
As the law currently stands, small-molecule drugs can be negotiated by Medicare seven years after FDA approval, while negotiations for biologics are only possible after 11 years.
Because small-molecule drugs become eligible for Medicare price negotiations sooner than biologics, many pharmaceutical companies are increasingly focusing their efforts on developing biologic drugs. This is good news, as biologics are highly targeted treatments for complex and hard-to-treat diseases. The more research put into these medications, the more advancements we can make in healthcare.
Also important to note is that the executive action will also address what hospitals pay for medications and what Medicare reimburses. It would begin searching for the best way to align hospitals’ prices to acquire drugs with Medicare costs. The goal is to align all of these expenses across care settings.
Challenges to the Trump Administration’s Executive Action
Aside from the wait, there are other challenges that the executive action faces when lowering medication costs. The various tariffs President Trump assigned to countries worldwide could undo any potential benefits of the action. However, it’s important to note that some of these tariffs have faced legal challenges, and federal judges are now reviewing or halting parts of the Trump-era tariff policy — meaning the long-term impact on drug prices remains uncertain.
Drugs created internationally may still see serious price increases regardless, and not even those made in the United States are safe. Most pharmaceutical companies rely on imported ingredients, which could be substantially more expensive.
Pharmaceutical companies are for-profit businesses, so they’re generally not going to absorb these costs. People in need of medications will bridge the gap by paying more for any medication that relies on ingredients shipped in from anywhere else in the world.
Solutions for Patients
Despite both President Biden’s and Trump’s actions, prices remain impossible for many patients who depend on prescription drugs to treat chronic conditions and life-threatening illnesses like cancer. Black and Latino communities are particularly impacted because they tend to experience higher rates of these illnesses. You can find out more in our blog on New Prescription Drug Price Hikes Hit Black Patients Hard.
To help address the problem, patients can use prescription drug assistance programs. These services help them find financial aid, helping lower the costs of the medications they need.
Depending on individual circumstances, there may be a variety of options people may be eligible for that they’re not aware of.
Get Affordable Access to Prescription Medications
Simplefill is a full-service prescription assistance company that researches, qualifies, and maintains patients’ enrollment in all sources of assistance available to them.
Apply today by calling 877-386-0206. A caring Simplefill representative will contact you within 24 hours to discuss your application and, if qualified, enroll you in the program.
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