Trump says executive order will slash the cost of prescription drugs

• President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the cost of prescription drugs.

• Prices will be cut by as much as 80%, and some immediately, he said at a press conference.

• Trump teased the announcement on Sunday as one of the "most consequential" orders in US history.

President Donald Trump announced sweeping action to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the US.

At a White House press conference on Monday, he said an executive order would cut the cost of prescription drugs by between 59% and 80%, or "even 90%."

"The United States will no longer tolerate profiteering and price gouging from Big Pharma," Trump said.

The order mandates that drug prices for US consumers be capped at the lowest price available in any comparable developed country, a price model known as the "most-favored-nation" rule.

While the White House did not specify which medications would be subject to the new arrangements, the order sets a 30-day deadline for federal agencies to begin communicating pricing targets to pharmaceutical companies.

If drugmakers fail to comply, the administration has laid out a series of escalating actions, including regulatory reforms, antitrust enforcement, and even potential revocations of approvals for drugs found to be "unsafe, ineffective, or improperly marketed."

Trump said Americans paid 70% more for prescription drugs than they did in 2000, and roughly three times more than in some other developed countries.

More than a third of US consumers cannot afford quality medical care, according to a survey conducted by Gallup and West Health and published in April.

Trump teased the announcement in a Truth Social post on Sunday night, referring to it as one of the "most consequential" executive orders in American history.

The comments prompted a flurry of X posts from Mark Cuban. In 2022, he launched Cost Plug Drugs, an online pharmacy that delivers drugs to consumers at a lower cost than Big Pharma.

"Gotta be honest. The @realDonaldTrump EO on healthcare and in particular, drug pricing could save hundreds of billions," Cuban wrote.

He outlined six ways the executive order could save consumers money, and ended the tweet by writing: "Put me in coach ! I'm here to help."

Trump has signed more than 140 executive orders in his second term, with 100 coming within his first 100 days in office.

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