Pharma stocks advance as Trump rolls out drug-pricing deals with 9 more companies

By Jaimy Lee and Victor Reklaitis

Trump also took aim at health insurers, saying he wants to meet with them in the coming weeks to lower costs

President Donald Trump spoke Friday during an event at the White House focused on lowering drug prices.

The Trump administration on Friday announced deals with nine drugmakers aimed at lowering pharmaceutical prices, bringing its total number of drug-pricing agreements to 14.

Amgen, the privately held Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche unit Genentech, Gilead, GSK, Merck, Novartis and Sanofi are the nine companies involved, according to senior administration officials.

Bristol Myers Squibb's stock (BMY) was recently up about 2%, while shares of Gilead (GILD) gained about 3%. A deal on pricing is especially important for Gilead, which has more exposure to the Medicaid program than many other drugmakers.

GSK's shares (GSK) rose 1%, while Merck's (MRK) also gained 1% and Amgen's (AMGN) were up about 1.5%. Novartis (NVS) added 1%, and Sanofi (SNY) tacked on less than 1%. Roche (RHHBY) was up 2%.

Bristol Myers Squibb, notably, is providing its blood thinner Eliquis to Medicaid for free. The drug brought in $13.3 billion in sales last year.

In conjunction with the deals on pricing, each of the nine companies has negotiated an agreement with the Commerce Department that provides a three-year stay on tariffs in exchange for onshoring manufacturing, administration officials said. In late July, President Donald Trump sent letters to 17 pharmaceutical companies that called on them to lower drug costs, saying that if they didn't act, his administration would "deploy every tool in our arsenal." He also has pushed for onshoring.

As part of Friday's deals, several companies are donating active pharmaceutical ingredients to the country's Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Reserve, or SAPIR, according to the administration officials.

During an event at the White House on Friday afternoon to announce the latest deals, Trump said he viewed them as "the biggest thing having to do with drugs in the history of the purchase of drugs." He also said the three other companies out of the 17 that received letters, which include Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), have reached agreements with his administration and would participate in a separate White House event in the future. AbbVie (ABBV) and Regeneron (REGN) are the other companies that have not yet officially announced deals.

Reuters had initially reported that AbbVie would be one of the companies involved in Friday's announcement, citing sources familiar with the matter, and its stock recently was up about 2%. Reuters also reported that Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead and ?Merck would be involved in the announcement.

At the end of Friday's event, Trump said he will hold a meeting with health insurers within weeks to get them to lower costs.

"I'm going to call in the insurance companies that are making so much money," he said, "and they have to make less, a lot less, and maybe we can have reasonable healthcare without having to cut them out."

Shares of the four largest health insurers - Cigna (CI), CVS Health (CVS), Elevance Health (ELV) and UnitedHealth Group (UNH) - all dropped about 1% after Trump's comments, although they quickly recovered.

Five drugmakers previously made pricing deals with the Trump administration and plan to sell certain drugs at a discount to the Medicare and Medicaid programs or on TrumpRx, the White House's new direct-to-consumer website that's expected to launch early next year. In exchange, the companies will get relief from tariffs for several years.

Back in September, Pfizer (PFE) was the first drug company to strike a deal with the administration, followed by AstraZeneca (AZN), EMD Serono (the U.S. and Canadian arm of Merck KGaA (XE:MRK)), Eli Lilly (LLY) and Novo Nordisk (NVO).

While Amgen was part of Friday's announcement, the company had said in October that its direct-pay site would be available via TrumpRx, and it cut pricing for a cholesterol medication two months ago.

Beyond discounted pricing for TrumpRx as well as Medicare and Medicaid, Trump's deals have featured updates to the companies' domestic manufacturing commitments. Most of the medications included so far treat everyday conditions like atopic dermatitis, migraine, obesity and fertility.

It's unclear who will use TrumpRx to directly buy their medications, and that has led to questions about how much of an impact the pricing deals will have on patients. But the deals have helped establish certainty regarding tariffs and pricing, reducing a key overhang for investors.

"With our landmark voluntary agreement with the U.S. government, we now have greater clarity on two critical fronts: pricing in the U.S. and tariffs," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told investors earlier this week.

Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate have expressed skepticism about Trump's deals with the pharmaceutical sector, with several sending letters earlier this week to four companies asking for more details. "Basic details about these arrangements have yet to be confirmed ... making it seem that both parties are attempting to shield themselves from oversight, accountability, and specifics that could inform consumers about whether this agreement will save money," Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia and Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote in the letters.

-Jaimy Lee -Victor Reklaitis

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12-19-25 1531ET