Trump Turns Up Heat On Big Pharma CEOs To Slash Drug Prices Within 60 Days — But Retail Traders Don't Flinch

Retail buzz around major pharmaceutical stocks jumped Thursday, with sentiment turning bullish across most major drugmakers, after President Donald Trump called on the industry to cut U.S. prescription prices to match the lowest rates seen in other developed countries.

Letters were sent to 17 firms, including AbbVie, Pfizer, Merck, Eli Lilly, and AstraZeneca, calling for a “most-favored-nation” (MFN) pricing model to stop charging Americans more than patients abroad.

Trump also addressed Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, EMD Serono, Roche unit Genentech, Gilead, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Regeneron, and Sanofi.

The letters called on pharmaceutical manufacturers to extend most-favored-nation (MFN) pricing to all Medicaid patients, ensuring that the U.S. government pays no more than the lowest price charged in any other developed country. 

Companies were also instructed to commit that they would not offer better prices for new drugs to other nations than those made available in the United States.

In addition, the administration proposed allowing drugmakers to bypass intermediaries and sell medicines directly to patients, as long as the price does not exceed the best rate offered abroad. 

The letters also outlined the use of trade policy to support companies in raising prices overseas, on the condition that the additional revenue be reinvested in reducing drug costs for American patients and taxpayers.

Additionally, the letters said that if the pharmaceutical companies “refuse to step up,” the federal government “will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified in a press conference that the letters call on drugmakers to take action within the next 60 days with the intent of lowering drug prices.

This latest move follows Trump’s May 2025 executive order titled “Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients.” The order kicked off negotiations with the industry, but the administration says the proposals it received didn’t go far enough. With these letters, Trump is pushing for immediate action.

The White House has long argued that Americans pay far more for brand-name drugs than people in other developed nations—over three times more on average—even after factoring in manufacturer discounts. 

Trump has repeatedly said that U.S. consumers are bearing the financial burden of both global drug development and lower prices abroad.

“In case after case, our citizens pay massively higher prices than other nations pay for the same exact pill, from the same factory,” Trump said, adding that Americans are “subsidizing socialism abroad” while paying the highest prices at home.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment was ‘extremely bullish’ with ‘extremely high’ message volume for AbbVie (ABBV), Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), Novo Nordisk (NVO), and Eli Lilly (LLY). 

Sanofi (SNY) also drew ‘extremely bullish’ sentiment on ‘high’ volume. 

Gilead Sciences (GILD), Pfizer (PFE), and Merck (MRK) saw ‘bullish’ sentiment with ‘high’ message activity, while AstraZeneca (AZN) registered ‘neutral’ sentiment despite ‘high’ engagement.

So far this year, GILD is up 22.2%, AZN has gained 10.9%, and ABBV is up 5.3%. 

On the downside, BMY has dropped 23.7%, MRK is down 21.2%, PFE has fallen 12.5%, SNY is down 5.3%, LLY has slipped 4.9%, and NVO has declined 46.2%.

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Editor's note: A previous version of the story incorrectly stated that Trump sent letters to 18 firms. He wrote to 17 pharma companies.