What about it and will it work?

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at reducing high prices of medical prescription drugs-but his details and long-term effects are far from clear.

Referring to the figures that patients in other countries pay much less than Americans for pharmaceuticals, Trump said he would order medicinal companies to reduce prices in the United States.

He declared this move as “one of the most follow -up” executive orders in US history, claiming that prices would fall “almost immediately, by 30% to 80%.”

But experts are very skeptical of the claims and moves of the stock exchange show that investors believe they will have a small immediate effect.

The United States has a particularly complex health system – including a large private insurance industry, an employer is abandoning and publicly funded insurance programs for adults and poor, known as Medicare and Medicaid respectively.

In many other developed countries, more centralized systems mean that employees can negotiate drugs for drug blankets, and in some cases refuse to buy if they consider the price too high.

In 2021, the US Government Accounting Service Make a comparison with Australia, Canada and FranceAnd they found that prescription drugs were on average two to four times more expensive in the United States.

Politicians from the two US political parties are striving for costs. During the White House announcement on Monday, health secretary Robert F Kennedy, Jr., noted that prices were the concern of the Democrats and the main goal of the presidential campaigns of socialist senator Bernie Sanders.

And Trump in his first term and former President Joe Biden tried to deal with the problem, especially the price of life -saving drugs such as insulin, but US prices remain stubbornly high.

Spoken in the White House on Monday, Trump and his health officials accused the lack of progress in efforts for pharmaceutical lobbying and major donations to congressional members.

“The drug lobby is the strongest lobby,” Trump told reporters. “But today, the United States will no longer subsidize the health care of foreign countries.

It should also be noted that Trump’s trade rates – which he constantly uses to threaten other countries – can increase costs even more. Earlier, Trump said he would tax drugs imported into the US.

Trump’s order is much wider than previous cost reduction efforts – but many details are yet to be developed.

The wording directs US officials to make sure that deals on drug costs made by foreign countries do not lead to “unreasonable or discriminatory” increases in prices for Americans.

But what exactly is covered by these terms is unclear – as is the question of what measures the White House would take if “unreasonable” practices would be found.

The White House also wants medicinal companies to sell more products directly to consumers – cutting insurance companies and pharmaceutical managers – and to seek drug imports from foreign countries, where they are sold at lower prices. This idea has previously hit the obstacles to the safety and trade rules.

An employee said the order on Monday was the beginning of negotiations between the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the industry.

The order also offered US status the most favorable nation (MFN) -which means that medicinal companies will be asked to match the lowest price for drugs abroad when selling US users.

“Big Pharma will voluntarily comply with this principle, or we will use the power of the federal government to ensure that we are paying the same price as other countries,” Trump told reporters.

It was unclear what mechanism the White House would use for punishment for medicinal companies that refused to voluntarily comply with.

Drug prices are very opaque, according to Alan Saiger, a professor of health policy at Boston University. Medicine manufacturers could easily claim that they are responsible for the order by announcing the price discounts that they already routinely provide at very high retail prices, he told the BBC.

“Will they act? Maybe they will say they are acting? Surely,” said Prof. Saiger.

“Whether this will signal a lasting and significant reduction in extremely high drug prices in the US is very unclear,” he said. “It’s rhetoric, not a reality.”

Trump’s visualization for the announcement affected the stock prices of major drug manufacturers, such as Pfizer, Eli Lilly and the United Kingdom GSK.

But they organized a speedy recovery, as they gathered after the administration shared the range of their plans – an indication that investors did not expect moves to have great influence.

In order to try to keep their profits in the United States, drug companies can simply withdraw from other countries where they sell their products more cheaper, according to researchers, Darius Lakidava and Dana Goldman of the University of South California.

Researchers also said that foreign governments regularly underestimate the true value of medicines for patients and that “the transition to a European model of pricing in the United States will lead to a broader, less healthy life for Americans.”

In the meantime, it is unclear how the lower prices of medical prescription drugs would fit on the Kennedy agenda “Make America healthy again”. Health Secretary constantly emphasizes diet and exercise as the key to improving the health of Americans – and criticizing the spread of many pharmaceuticals, including vaccines and medicines for the treatment of mental illness.

However, any potential reduction in drug prices is likely to be popular with Americans – as polls constantly show that high costs are a major concern when it comes to the US health system.

With Michael White, a professor of pharmacy at Connecticut University, said the results of Trump’s administration on drug prices “will be minimal for many Americans,” but that all attempts at greater transparency and less cost “are a positive step in the right direction.”

The order is expected to face the challenges of the pharmaceutical industry in the courts and congress.

Industrial groups are largely against the executive order and say that it will be counterproductive – potentially suffocating the delivery of medicines and research means while it does a little to quell high costs.

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John F Croolley, president of the organization for the innovation of biotechnology, called the MFN status “a deeply insufficient proposal that would devastate biotechnology companies in our nation” by potentially suffocating research funding.

“Patients and families are not a trade war chip, but this is exactly how they are treated – first through offered tariffs for our nation’s medicines, now with foreign reference prices in the name of justice.”

But Alan Saiger, a professor at the University of Boston, was skeptical of the arguments of the industry. He pointed out that the money used to study the drug was spent before profits were made, and suggested that there could be other ways to finance research – such as large cash prizes for mild to specific diseases.

Prof. Sajer suggested that real action to reduce drug prices would depend on the scope of the president’s attention.

“Given the apparent public hesitation of the president on many topics, it is simply not clear that he will remain with this problem or that he will want and be able to act effectively,” he said.

Reading by Natalie Sherman in New York