Historic Drug Deals Deliver Relief and Access for Low-Income Nevadans

Fourteen out of 17 major pharmaceutical companies have now reached voluntary agreements with the Trump administration under its Most Favored Nation (MFN) drug pricing policy. These deals commit the companies to providing lower prices for certain medications, particularly to Medicaid programs, aligned with the lowest prices offered in other developed nations, in exchange for benefits such as tariff relief and incentives for U.S. manufacturing investment.

The participating drugmakers are Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GSK, Merck, Novartis, Sanofi, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and EMD Serono. The three companies that have not yet made agreements are AbbVie, Johnson & Johnson, and Regeneron.

Under these agreements, the companies have committed to several key measures aimed at lowering drug costs and strengthening U.S. health security. They will supply existing medications to Medicaid programs at the lowest prices offered and launch all future drugs in the U.S. at MFN pricing levels, applying to commercial, government, and cash-pay markets. The companies will also donate active pharmaceutical ingredients or finished products for critical medications to a national emergency stockpile, with specific contributions from Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, and GSK.

In addition, the participating companies pledged to collectively invest more than $150 billion in U.S.-based manufacturing, research, and development.

In exchange, the drugmakers receive a three-year reprieve from certain pharmaceutical import tariffs.

A standout commitment came from Bristol Myers Squibb, which announced it will provide its blockbuster blood thinner Eliquis free of charge to Medicaid patients and programs. The company will also donate over six tons of Eliquis's active pharmaceutical ingredient to the national stockpile. This is expected to deliver substantial savings and better access for low-income patients.

For Nevada's approximately 738,000 Medicaid patients, including over 86,000 dual-eligible individuals who also qualify for Medicare, the MFN drug pricing agreements deliver significant direct benefits by mandating that participating pharmaceutical companies supply existing medications to the state's Medicaid program at the lowest prices offered in other developed nations.

This is projected to yield substantial savings for Nevada Medicaid, easing pressure on the program's budget (funded primarily by federal dollars with an annual state general fund contribution of roughly $1.1 billion, representing about 28% of the general fund) and potentially improving access to critical treatments for chronic conditions like diabetes, cancer, HIV, and heart disease.