Pfizer, White House Strike Deal to Tie U.S. Drug Prices to Overseas Benchmarks, Launch Discount Portal

Pfizer Inc. reached a sweeping agreement with the Trump administration to align many U.S. drug prices with those paid in other developed countries and to sell medicines directly to Americans at steep discounts through a new federal portal, TrumpRx.gov. The deal also includes a three-year grace period shielding Pfizer from potential tariffs tied to a national-security review, while the company commits to expand U.S. manufacturing and invest $70 billion domestically, according to the company and government statements released Tuesday.

The White House said the accord will extend “most-favored-nation” (MFN) pricing—matching the lowest price offered in peer nations—to every state Medicaid program on Pfizer products and guarantee MFN pricing on new innovative medicines the company brings to market. The administration said the move is aimed at ending “global freeloading on American pharmaceutical innovation,” noting that U.S. prices for brand-name drugs exceed those in other advanced economies even after domestic discounts.

As part of the rollout, the government detailed direct-to-patient discounts on several Pfizer therapies when purchased through the new portal: Eucrisa, for atopic dermatitis, at an 80% discount; Xeljanz, for rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis and ulcerative colitis, at 40%; and Zavzpret, a migraine treatment, at 50%. More broadly, Pfizer said “the large majority” of its primary-care treatments and select specialty brands will be offered at savings averaging 50% and as high as 85% via TrumpRx.gov. Specific financial terms were not disclosed.

“This is about putting all patients first and ensuring America remains the world’s leading engine of medical breakthroughs,” Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Albert Bourla said, calling the pact “a win for American patients, a win for American leadership, and a win for Pfizer.” He added that the company now has “certainty and stability… on two critical fronts, tariffs and pricing,” which had weighed on industry valuations.

Bourla said Pfizer secured a three-year grace period during which products covered by a Section 232 investigation “won’t face tariffs,” contingent on further U.S. manufacturing investment. The arrangement establishes “a balanced global pricing approach” that keeps U.S. and overseas prices “reasonable and sustainable,” the company said. Bloomberg News reported the tariff grace period and the launch of the TrumpRx discount site, describing the pact as resolving two threats for Pfizer: more sweeping drug-pricing rules and potential import tariffs on medicines.

The administration framed the Medicaid MFN provision as the first agreement to bring such international reference pricing to American patients, part of a broader push following a May executive order and July letters to drugmakers pressing for lower U.S. prices. “In case after case, our citizens pay massively higher prices than other nations pay for the same exact pill,” President Donald Trump has argued in promoting the policy. At the White House event announcing the deal, he said, “I can’t tell you how big this is.” The Associated Press reported that the agreement came amid a broader political fight over health-care costs in Washington.

Pfizer said the pact would allow it to “invest even more boldly in the United States,” citing a 31,000-person U.S. workforce, 13 manufacturing and distribution sites, and seven major R&D facilities. The company plans “an additional $70 billion” for U.S. research, development, and capital projects “in the next few years,” on top of more than $83 billion invested in American biotech innovation from 2018 to 2024. With the new framework, Pfizer said it will focus on “the next generation of cures,” highlighting oncology, obesity, vaccines, and inflammation and immunology.