By Bunmi Yekini
Pharmaceutical giants—not foreign governments—are responsible for soaring drug prices in the United States, according to a new analysis by Public Citizen that rebuts claims from President Donald Trump and Big Pharma executives.
The report criticises Trump’s recent remarks that other countries “suppress” drug prices, forcing Americans to pay a “disproportionate amount” of global research costs. It also takes aim at Pfizer CEO and PhRMA Chair Albert Bourla, who echoed that argument.
“Both Trump and Bourla are outrageously wrong — hiking drug prices in other countries will not magically lower prices in the U.S.,” said Peter Maybarduk, Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines Director. “Raising drug prices anywhere is a terrible idea that leads to suffering and treatment rationing. Big Pharma has a long, grotesque and deadly history of applying pressure to raise global prices, to no benefit other than its profits, for no reason other than the transparent greed that has made the industry reviled worldwide.”
Public Citizen’s analysis points out that the U.S. enables this kind of price gouging due to lax regulation and “abusive patenting practices that stave off competition,” making it difficult for generics to enter the market. This unchecked power, the report states, has driven drug spending up astronomically in the past two decades, from roughly $180 billion in 2003 to nearly $450 billion in 2023.
By contrast, most other countries regulate medicine prices to ensure affordability. Trump’s plan to raise overseas prices would not cut costs for U.S. patients, Maybarduk emphasised. “It would only deepen the crisis,” he said.
Public Citizen urged lawmakers to focus on policies that rein in Big Pharma’s monopolistic practices and put people’s health before profit.