---
title: Nine More Drugmakers Accept Most-Favored-Nation Pricing to Avoid a 100% Tariff
description: Nine more drugmakers joined the US most-favored-nation pricing program to escape a 100% tariff. Terms are largely undisclosed and the relief expires in 2029.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
updated: 2026-09-01T01:16:58.912Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/nine-more-drugmakers-accept-most-favored-nation-pricing-to-avoid-a-100-tariff
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/mfn-drug-pricing-tariff-235657.webp
categories: Politics
content_type: News
region: United States
publication: Sovereign Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

Nine more pharmaceutical companies have agreed to sell their products to American buyers at the lowest prices they charge other wealthy nations, the White House [said on August 31](https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/08/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-announces-deal-with-nine-additional-pharmaceutical-manufacturers-to-lower-drug-prices-for-americans/), bringing to 26 the number of manufacturers signed to the administration's most-favored-nation drug pricing program. The new signatories are Alcon, Astellas Pharma, BeOne Medicines, BridgeBio, CSL, Kyowa Kirin, Sun Pharma, Teva and UCB. The White House says the 26 companies now account for 89% of the branded drug market, a figure it published without a methodology and one that cannot be independently checked.

## The Deals Cover Medicaid, New Drugs and $19.6 Billion in US Plants

Under the agreements, each company commits to align its US prices with the lowest price it charges in other developed nations, the benchmark the administration calls most-favored-nation pricing. The commitment extends to all state Medicaid programs on those companies' products and to every new medicine each company brings to market. The nine also pledged to invest at least $19.6 billion collectively in US manufacturing in the near term.

Several of the new signatories also agreed to donate active pharmaceutical ingredients to a national stockpile. UCB committed 163 tons of levetiracetam, an anti-seizure drug, and Teva pledged 45 metric tons of the antibiotic metronidazole. Astellas said it would supply 25 kilograms of tacrolimus, a transplant medicine. Astellas described the deal in its own terms, saying it had agreed to lower Medicaid prices and align its future medicines with prices in other developed countries. "We believe patients benefit most when affordability and innovation advance together," the company said, adding that additional terms were not disclosed.

## A 100% Tariff Is the Reason They Are Signing

The word the administration uses for these deals is voluntary, but the companies are choosing between two costs. In late July the administration imposed [Section 232 tariffs of 100%](https://www.mayerbrown.com/en/insights/publications/2026/04/trump-administration-implements-tariffs-on-imported-patented-medication-and-pharmaceutical-ingredients-under-section-232-of-the-trade-expansion-act-of-1962) on imported patented medicines and the active ingredients used to make them, effective July 31 for large manufacturers. A company that signs both a most-favored-nation pricing agreement and a US onshoring agreement pays no tariff. A company that only onshores pays 20%, and a company that does neither pays the full 100%. The zero rate runs through January 20, 2029.

Beyond that date, the terms thin out. The fact sheet names no penalties for a company that later fails to hold prices down, no oversight body, and no schedule for the manufacturing investments beyond the near term. What binds a company to most-favored-nation prices once the tariff relief lapses is not spelled out in anything the administration has released.

## The Savings Figures Are the Administration's Own

The White House and its Council of Economic Advisers attached large numbers to the program. The administration says users of TrumpRx, the direct-purchase channel it launched for these drugs, have saved more than $700 million since February 2026, and that more than 500,000 seniors saved $216 million on GLP-1 weight-loss and diabetes medicines over two months. The Council of Economic Advisers estimates the program will produce $600 billion in savings over the next decade. Each of these figures is an administration projection or internal tally rather than an audited result.

## Economists and Democrats Question Whether It Lowers Prices

Independent analysts have pushed back on both the tool and the terms. The American Action Forum, in an analysis by economist Michael Baker, projects that a 100% import tariff would [raise average finished-drug prices by roughly 30%](https://www.americanactionforum.org/insight/section-232-pharmaceutical-tariffs-are-not-a-health-policy-tool/), and argues that a tariff at the US border does nothing to change the foreign-government reimbursement rules that create the price gap in the first place.

Democratic committee leaders, including Senate Finance ranking member Ron Wyden and House members Richard Neal, Frank Pallone and Bobby Scott, asked the administration for copies of the agreements, and the administration has barred companies from disclosing the terms. Wyden and seven other Democratic senators separately asked manufacturers to show that most-favored-nation prices would beat the net prices Medicaid already pays after existing rebates. No such evidence has been made public.

## FAQ

**Q: What is most-favored-nation drug pricing?**
It is a pricing rule under which a drugmaker agrees to charge US buyers no more than the lowest price it charges in a group of other developed countries. In this program the benchmark applies to state Medicaid purchases and to each company's new medicines.

**Q: Why are drugmakers signing now?**
The administration imposed a 100% Section 232 tariff on imported patented drugs and their ingredients in July 2026. Companies that sign a most-favored-nation pricing agreement and a US onshoring agreement pay no tariff instead, which is the direct financial reason to join.

**Q: When does the tariff relief expire?**
The zero tariff for signatory companies runs through January 20, 2029. The administration has not published what keeps most-favored-nation prices in place after that date.

**Q: Will these deals actually lower what patients pay?**
The administration projects large savings, including a Council of Economic Advisers estimate of $600 billion over a decade, but those are its own figures. Lawmakers have asked manufacturers for evidence that the new prices beat what Medicaid already pays after rebates, and no such evidence has been released publicly.