How Did AstraZeneca’s CEO Get The Trump Deal Over the Line?

AstraZeneca has joined rival Pfizer in a White House-led initiative to adopt President Donald Trump’s drug pricing plan that is said to save Americans money on prescription prices.

On 10 October, Trump unveiled the medicine deal in the Oval Office with Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca’s CEO.

This acts as part of a wider agreement with the Trump Administration that will ensure US patients pay lower prices for prescription medicines while strengthening America’s role as the global leader in biopharmaceutical innovation.

According to Reuters, the moment at the White House was the culmination of public and private meetings between Pascal and Trump officials - stretching back to November last year when Trump won the election.

Reflecting on the path to the deal, Pascal said in the Oval Office: “You’ve kept me up at night and my team as well. But it’s really been worth it.”

As an English-based firm, the deal signifies the first agreement for a non-US drugmaker to be protected from the President’s tariffs on imports to the US - the world’s largest pharmaceutical market.

Trump announced: “Now drug prices are going to be going down. 100%, 400%, 600%, 1,000% in some cases.”

In addition to lowering its drug prices, Trump said AstraZeneca would invest US$50bn in the US over the next five years for research and development of new pharmaceuticals.

This follows previous commitments, including a US$3.5bn plan to expand manufacturing and research in the US, announced in November 2024, and a US$4bn plant built in Virginia, according to The Independent. 

TrumpRx

Trump’s pricing model is aimed at making medications more affordable for low-income Americans, which will also be implemented on a website called TrumpRx.gov. 

According to Dr Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services - of whom the model is also aimed at - the site is expected to launch early next year.

Trump said that alongside the deal, AstraZeneca will list many of its popular drugs on the website, adding: “I had the honour of being the first president in 28 years to lower drug prices during the course of the year, and we actually did it, and I was so proud of myself, we called a news conference.

“Presidents have promised for years to lower the cost of health care, but my administration is actually the first to do it and do it substantially, do it at numbers that nobody thought, even I thought were possible.”

Mehmet praised the deal saying that it releases the US from “the bondage of paying three times more for the exact same product made in the safe factory, in the same pill box, in the same instruction manual overseas”.

Trump and pharma CEOs

The agreement between Trump and Pfizer, which was first mentioned in August, was announced by Pfizer on 30 September.

In response to Trump’s letter to major drugmaker CEOs on July 31st, urging them to lower their prices, Pfizer said it agreed to “implement measures designed to ensure Americans receive comparable drug prices to those available in other developed countries”.

Pfizer said it will also participate in TrumpRx, with the large majority of the company’s primary care treatments offered at as high as 85% off.

Albert Bourla, Chairman and CEO of Pfizer, said in a statement at the time: “By working closely with the Administration, we are lowering costs for patients and enabling greater investment in the US biopharmaceutical ecosystem by ending the days when American families carried the burden of paying for innovation.”

Pascal commended Trump for his “great leadership” and called the agreement “a big win for patients and the healthcare system as a whole”.